MAR  2  7  1951 


28Jui'6l 


STEAM  AND  ELECTRICITY. 
The  70,000  Horse-Power  Station  of  the   Metropolitan   Street  Railway,   New   York. 


THE  PROGRESS 


OF 


INVENTION 


IN  THE 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY 


BY 

EDWARD  W.   BYRN,  A.M. 


*' Ao$  nov  ffrcd,  Kai    rrjv  yijv  K 
(Give  me  where  to  stand,  and  I'll  move  the  earth.) 

— Archimedes. 


MUNN  &  CO.,  PUBLISHERS 

SCIENTIFIC  AMERICAN  OFFICE 
361    BROADWAY,    NEW    YORK 

I9OO 


COPYRIGHTED,  1900,  BY  MUNN  &  Co. 


ENTERED  AT  STATIONER'S  HALL 
LONDON,  ENGLAND 


\LL  RIGHTS   RESERVED 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America  by 

The  Manufacturers'  and   Publishers'  Printing  Company, 

New  York  City. 


T 


PREFACE. 


For  a  work  of  such  scope  as  this,  the  first  word  of  the  author  should  be 
an  apology  for  what  is  doubtless  the  too  ambitious  effort  of  a  single  writer. 
A  quarter  of  a  century  in  the  high  tide  of  the  arts  and  sciences,  an  ardent 
interest  in  all  things  that  make  for  scientific  progress,  and  the  aid  and 
encouragement  of  many  friends  in  and  about  the  Patent  Office,  furnish  the 
explanation.  The  work  cannot  claim  the  authority  of  a  text-book,  the  full- 
ness of  a  history,  nor  the  exactness  of  a  technical  treatise.  It  is  simply  a 
cursory  view  of  the  century  in  the  field  of  invention,  intended  to  present 
the  broader  bird's-eye  view  of  progress  achieved.  In  substantiation  of  the 
main  facts  reliance  has  been  placed  chiefly  upon  patents,  which  for  historic 
development  are  believed  to  be  the  best  of  all  authorities,  because  they 
carry  the  responsibility  of  the  National  Government  as  to  dates,  and  the 
attested  signature  and  oath  of  the  inventor  as  to  subject  matter.  Many 
difficulties  and  embarrassments  have  been  encountered  in  the  work.  The 
fear  of  extending  it  into  a  too  bulky  volume  has  excluded  treatment  of 
many  subjects  which  the  author  recognizes  as  important,  and  issues  in  dis- 
pute as  to  the  claims  of  inventors  have  also  presented  themselves  in  per- 
plexing conflict.  A  discussion  of  the  latter  has  been  avoided  as  far  as 
possible,  the  paramount  object  being  to  do  justice  to  all  the  worthy  work- 
ers in  this  field,  with  favor  to  none,  and  only  expressing  such  conclusions 
as  seem  to  be  justified  by  authenticated  facts  and  the  impartial  verdict  of 
reason  in  the  clearing  atmosphere  of  time.  For  sins  of  omission 
a  lack  of  space  affords  a  reasonable  excuse,  and  for  those  of  com- 


ii  PREFACE. 

mission  the  great  scope  of  the  work  is  pleaded  in  extenuation.  It  is 
hoped,  however,  that  the  volume  may  find  an  accepted  place  in  the  litera- 
ture of  the  day,  as  presenting  in  compact  form  some  comprehensive  and 
coherent  idea  of  the  great  things  in  invention  which  the  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury has  added  to  the  world's  wealth  of  ideas  and  material  resources. 

In  acknowledging  the  many  obligations  to  friends  who  have  aided  me 
in  the  work,  my  thanks  are  due  first  to  the  Editors  of  the  Scientific  Ameri- 
can for  aid  rendered  in  the  preparation  of  the  work ;  also  to  courteous  offi- 
cials in  the  Government  Departments,  and  to  many  progressive  manufac- 
turers throughout  the  country.  E.  W.  B. 

Washington,  D.  C.,  October,  /poo. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 
THE   PERSPECTIVE  VIEW. 

CHAPTER    II. 
CHRONOLOGY  OF  LEADING  INVENTIONS  OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 

CHAPTER    III. 
THE  ELECTRIC  TELEGRAPH. 

The  Voltaic  Pile.  Daniell's  Battery.  Use  of  Conducting  Wire  by  Weber. 
Steinheil  Employs  Earth  as  Return  Circuit.  Prof.  Henry's  Electro-Magnet,  and 
First  Telegraphic  Experiment.  Prof.  Morse's  Telegraphic  Code  and  Register. 
First  Line  Between  Washington  and  Baltimore.  Bain's  Chemical  Telegraph.  Gintl's 
Duplex  Telegraph.  Edison's  Quadruplex.  House's  Printing  Telegraph.  Fac 
Simile  Telegraphs.  Channing  and  Farmer  Fire  Alarm.  Telegraphing  by  Induction. 
Wireless  Telegraphy  by  Marconi.  Statistics. 

CHAPTER    IV. 
THE  ATLANTIC  CABLE. 

Difficulties  of  Laying.  Congratulatory  Messages  Between  Queen  Victoria  and 
President  Buchanan.  The  Siphon  Recorder.  Statistics. 

CHAPTER    V. 
THE  DYNAMO  AND  ITS  APPLICATIONS. 

Observations  of  Faraday  and  Henry.  Magneto-Electric  Machines  of  Pixii,  and 
of  Saxton.  Hjorth's  Dynamo  of  1855.  Wilde's  Machine  of  1866.  Siemens'  of 
1867.  Gramme's  of  1870.  Tesla's  Polyphase  Currents. 

CHAPTER    VI. 
THE  ELECTRIC  MOTOR. 

Barlow's  Spur  Wheel.  Dal  Negro's  Electric  Pendulum.  Prof.  Henry's  Electric 
Motor.  Jacobi's  Electric  Boat.  Davenport's  Motor.  The  Neff  Motor.  Dr.  Page's 
Electric  Locomotive.  Dr.  Siemens'  First  Electric  Railway  at  Berlin,  1879.  First 
Electric  Railway  in  United  States,  between  Baltimore  and  Hampden,  1885.  Third 
Rail  System.  Statistics,  Electric  Railways,  and  General  Electric  Company.  Dis- 
tribution Electric  Current  in  Principal  Cities. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   VII. 
THE  ELECTRIC  Lie  HI. 

Voltaic  Arc  by  Sir  Humphrey  Davy.  The  Jablochkpff  Candle.  Patents  of 
Brush,  Western,  and  Others.  Search  Lights.  Grove's  First  Incandescent  Lamp. 
Starr-King  Lamp.  Moses  Farmer  Lights  First  Dwelling  with  Electric  Lamps. 
Sawyer-Man  Lamp.  Edison's  Incandescent  Lamp.  Edison's  Three-Wire  System  of 
Circuits.  Statistics. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
THE  TELEPHONE. 

Preliminary  Suggestions  and  Experiments  of  Bourseul,  Reis,  and  Drawbaugh. 
First  Speaking  Telephone  by  Prof.  Bell.  Differences  between  Reis'  and  Bell's  Tele- 
phones. The  Blake  Transmitter.  Berliner's  Variation  of  Resistance  and  Electric 
Undulations,  by  Variation  of  Pressure.  Edison's  Carbon  Microphone.  The  Tele- 
phone Exchange.  Statistics. 

CHAPTER    IX. 
ELECTRICITY,  MISCELLANEOUS. 

Storage  Battery.  Batteries  of  Plante,  Faure  and  Brush.  Electric  Welding. 
Direct  Generation  of  Electricity  by  Combustion.  Electric  Boats.  Electro-Plating. 
Edison's  Electric  Pen.  Electricity  in  Medicine.  Electric  Cautery.  Electric  Musical 
Instruments.  Electric  Blasting. 

CHAPTER    X. 
THE  STEAM   ENGINE. 

Hero's  Engine,  and  Other  Early  Steam  Engines.  Watt's  Steam  Engine.  The 
Cut-Off.  Giffard  Injector.  Bourdon's  Steam  Gauge.  Feed  Water  Heaters,  Smoke 
Consumers,  etc.  Rotary  Engines.  Steam  Hammer.  Steam  Fire  Engine.  Com- 
pound Engines.  Schlick  and  Taylor  Systems  of  Balancing  Momentum  of  Moving 
Parts.  Statistics. 

CHAPTER  XI. 
THE  STEAM  RAILWAY. 

Trevithick's  Steam  Carriage.  Blenkinsop's  Locomotive.  Hedley's  "Puffing 
Billy."  Stephenson's  Locomotive.  The  Link  Motion.  Stockton  and  Darlington 
Railway,  1825.  Hackworth's  "Royal  George."  The  "Stourbridge  Lion"  and 
"John  Bull."  Baldwin's  Locomotives.  Westinghouse  Air  Brakes.  Janney  Car 
Coupling.  The  Woodruff  Sleeping  Car.  Railway  Statistics. 

CHAPTER   XII. 
STEAM  -  NAVIGATION. 

Early  Experiments.  Symington's  Boat.  Col.  John  Steveris'  Screw  Propeller. 
Robt.  Fulton  and  the  "Clermont."  First  Trip  to  Sea  by  Stevens'  "Phoenix." 
"Savannah,"  the  First  Steam  Vessel  to  Cross  the  Ocean.  Ericsson's  Screw  Pro- 
peller. The  "Great  Eastern."  The  Whale  Back  Steamers.  Ocean  Greyhounds. 
The  "Oceanic,"  largest  Steamship  in  the  World.  The  "Turbinia."  Fulton's  "Demo- 
logos,"  First  War  Vessel.  The  Turret  Monitor.  Modern  Battleships  and  Torpedo 
Boats.  Holland  Submarine  Boat. 


CONTENTS.  v 

CHAPTER   XIII. 
PRINTING. 

Early  Printing  Press.  Nicholson's  Rotary  Press.  The  Columbian  and  Washing- 
ton Presses.  Konig's  Rotary  Steam  Press.  The  Hoe  Type  Revolving  Machine. 
Color  Printing.  Stereotyping.  Paper  Making.  Wood  Pulp.  The  Linotype.  Plate 
Printing.  Lithography. 

CHAPTER    XIV. 

THE  TYPEWRITER. 

Old  English  Typewriter  of  1714.  The  Burt  Typewriter  of  1829.  Progin's 
French  Machine  of  1833.  Thurber's  Printing  Machine  of  1843.  The  Beach  Type- 
writer. The  Sholes  Typewriter,  the  First  of  the  Modern  Form,  Commercially  De- 
veloped into  the  Remington.  The  Caligraph,  Smith-Premier,  and  Others. 

CHAPTER    XV. 
THE  SEWING  MACHINE. 

Embroidery  Machine  the  Forerunner  of  the  Sewing  Machine.  Sewing  Machine 
of  Thomas  Saint.  The  Thimonnier  Wooden  Machine.  Greenough's  Double- 
Pointed  Needle.  Bean's  Stationary  Needle.  The  Howe  Sewing  Machine.  Bach- 
elder's  Continuous  Feed.  Improvements  of  Singer.  Wilson's  Rotary  Hook,  and 
Four-Motion  Feed.  The  McKay  Shoe  Sewing  Machine.  Button  Hcle  Machines. 
Carpet  Sewing  Machine.  Statistics. 

CHAPTER   XVI. 
THE  REAPER. 

Early  English  Machines.  Machine  of  Patrick  Bell.  The  Hussey  Reaper.  Mc- 
Cormick's  Reaper  and  Its  Great  Success.  Rivalry  Between  the  Two  American 
Reapers.  Self  Rakers.  Automatic  Binders.  Combined  Steam  Reaper  and  Thresh- 
ing Machine.  Great  Wheat  Fields  of  the  West.  Statistics. 

CHAPTER   XVII. 

VULCANIZED  RUBBER. 

Early  Use  of  Caoutchouc  by  the  Indians.  Collection  of  the  Gum.  Early  Ex- 
periments Failures.  Goodyear's  Persistent  Experiments.  Nathaniel  Hayward's 
Application  of  Sulphur  to  the  Gum.  Goodyear's  Process  of  Vulcanization.  Intro- 
duction of  his  Process  into  Europe.  Trials  and  Imprisonment  for  Debt.  Rubber 
Shoe  Industry.  Great  Extent  and  Variety  of  Applications.  Statistics. 

CHAPTER    XVIII. 
CHEMISTRY. 

Its  Evolution  as  a  Science.  The  Coal  Tar  Products.  Fermenting  and  Brewing. 
Glucose,  Gun  Cotton,  and  Nitroglycerine.  Electro-Chemistry.  Fertilizers  and  Com- 
mercial Products.  New  Elements  of  the  Nineteenth  Century. 


vt  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   XIX. 

FOOD  AND  DRINK. 

The  Nature  of  Food.  The  Roller  Mill.  The  Middlings  Purifier.  Culinary 
Utensils.  Bread  Machinery.  Dairy  Appliances.  Centrifugal  Milk  Skimmer.  The 
Canning  Industry.  Sterilization.  Butchering  and  Dressing  Meats.  Oleomargarine. 
Manufacture  of  Sugar.  The  Vacuum  Pan.  Centrifugal  Filter.  Modern  Dietetics 
and  Patented  Foods. 

CHAPTER   XX.  < 

MEDICINE,  SURGERY  AND  SANITATION. 

Discovery  of  Circulation  of  the  Blood  by  Harvey.  Vaccination  by  Jenner.  Use 
of  Anaesthetics  the  Great  Step  of  Medical  Progress  of  the  Century.  Materia  Medica. 
Instruments.  Schools  of  Medicine.  Dentistry.  Artificial  Limbs.  Digestion.  Bac- 
teriology, and  Disease  Germs.  Antiseptic  Surgery.  House  Sanitation. 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
THE  BICYCLE  AND  AUTOMOBILE. 

The  Draisine,  1816.  Michaux's  Bicycle,  1855.  United  States  Patent  to  Lallement 
and  Carrol,  1866.  Transition  from  "Vertical  Fork"  and  "Star"  to  Modern  "Safety." 
Pneumatic  Tire.  Automobile  the  Prototype  of  the  Locomotive.  Trevithick's 
Steam  Road  Carriage,  1801.  The  Locomobile  of  To-day.  Gas  Engine  Automobiles 
of  Pinkus,  1839;  Selden,  1879;  Duryea,  Winton,  and  Others.  Electric  Automobiles 
a  Development  of  Electric  Locomotives  as  Early  as  1836.  Grounelle's  Electric  Au- 
tomobile of  1852.  The  Columbia,  Woods,  and  Riker  Electric  Carriages.  Statistics. 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
THE  PHONOGRAPH. 

Invention  of  Phonograph  by  Edison.  Scott's  Phonautograph.  Improvements  of 
Bell  and  Tainter.  The  Graphophone.  Library  of  Wax  Cylinders.  Berliner's  Gram- 
ophone. 

CHAPTER    XXIII. 
OPTICS. 

Early  Telescopes.  The  Lick  Telescope.  The  Grande  Lunette.  The  Stereo- 
Binocular  Field  Glass.  The  Microscope.  The  Spectroscope.  Polarization  of 
Light.  Kaleidoscope.  Stereoscope.  Range  Finder.  Kinetoscope,  and  Moving  Pict- 
ures. 

CHAPTER   XXIV. 
PHOTOGRAPHY. 

Experiments  of  Wedgewood  and  Davy.  Niepce's  Heliography.  Daguerre  and 
the  Daguerreotype.  Fox  Talbot  Makes  First  Proofs  from  Negatives.  Sir  John 
Herschel  Introduces  Glass  Plates.  The  Collodion  Process.  Silver  and  Carbon 
Prints.  Ambrotypes.  Emulsions.  Dry  Plates.  The  Kodak  Camera.  Photog- 
raphy in  Colors.  Panorama  Cameras.  Photo-engraving  and  Photo-lithography. 
Half  Tone  Printing. 


CONTENTS.  vii 

CHAPTER   XXV. 
THE  ROENTGEN  OR  X-RAYS. 

Geissler  Tubes.  Vacuum  Tubes  of  Crookes,  Hittorf,  and  Lenard.  The  Cathode 
Ray.  Roentgen's  Great  Discovery  in  1895.  X-Ray  Apparatus.  Salvioni's  Crypto- 
scope.  Edison's  Fluoroscope.  The  Fluorometer.  Sun-burn  from  X-Rays.  Uses 
of  X-Rays. 

CHAPTER    XXVI. 
GAS  LIGHTING. 

Early  Use  of  Natural  Gas.  Coal  Gas  Introduced  by  Murdoch.  Winsor  Organizes 
First  Gas  Company  in  1804.  Melville  in  United  States  Lights  Beaver-Tail  Light- 
house with  Gas  in  1817.  Lowe's  Process  of  Making  Water  Gas.  Acetylene  Gas. 
Carburetted  Air.  Pintsch  Gas.  Gas  Meter.  Otto  Gas  Engine.  The  Welsbach 
Burner. 

CHAPTER   XXVII. 
CIVIL  ENGINEERING. 

Great  Bridges,  Pneumatic  Caissons,  Tunnels.  The  Beach  Tunnel  Shield.  Suez 
Canal.  Dredges.  The  Lidgerwood  Cable  Ways.  Canal  Locks.  Antesian  Wells. 
Compressed-Air  Rock  Drills.  Blasting.  Mississippi  Jetties.  Iron  and  Steel  Build- 
ings. Eiffel  Tower.  Washington's  Monument.  The  United  States  Capitol. 

CHAPTER    XXVIII. 
WOODWORKING. 

Early  Machines  of  Sir  Samuel  Bentham.  Evolution  of  the  Saw.  Circular  Saw. 
Hammering  to  Tension.  -Steam  Feed  for  Saw  Mill  Carriage.  Quarter  Sawing. 
The  Band  Saw.  Planing  Machines.  The  Woodworth  Planer.  The  Woodbury 
Yielding  Pressure  Bar.  The  Universal  Woodworker.  The  Blanchard  Lathe.  Mor- 
tising Machines.  Special  Woodworking  Machines. 

CHAPTER    XXIX. 
METAL  WORKING. 

Early  Iron  Furnace.  Operations  of  Lord  Dudley,  Abraham  Darby,  and  Henry 
Cort.  Neilson's  Hot  Blast.  Great  Blast  Furnaces  of  Modern  Times.  The  Puddling 
Furnace.  Bessemer  Steel  and  the  Converter.  Open  Hearth  Steel.  Regenerative 
Furnace.  Siemens-Martin  Process.  Forging  Armor  Plate.  Making  Horse  Shoes. 
Screws  and  Special  Machines.  Electric  Welding,  Annealing  and  Tempering.  Coat- 
ing with  Metal.  Metal  Founding.  Barbed  Wire  Machines.  Making  Nails,  Pins, 
etc.  Making  Shot.  Alloys.  Making  Aluminum,  and  Metallurgy  of  Rarer  Metals. 
The  Cyanide  Process.  Electric  Concentrator. 

CHAPTER    XXX. 
FIRE  ARMS  AND  EXPLOSIVES. 

The  Cannon,  the  Most  Ancient  of  Fire  Arms.  Muzzle  and  Breech  Loaders  of 
the  Sixteenth  Century.  The  Armstrong  Gun.  The  Rodman,  Dahlgren,  and  Parrott 
Guns.  Breech-Loading  Ordnance.  Rapid  Fire  Breech-Loading  Rifles.  Disappear- 
ing Gun.  Catling  Gun.  Dynamite  Gun.  The  Colt,  and  Smith  &  Wesson  Revolvers. 
German  Automatic  Pistol.  Breech-Loading  Small  Arms.  Magazine  Guns.  The 
Lee,  Krag-Jorgensen,  and  Mauser  Rifles.  Hammerless  Guns.  Rebounding  Locks. 
Gun  Cotton,  Nitro  Glycerine,  and  Smokeless  Powder.  Mines  and  Torpedoes. 


viii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    XXXI. 
TEXTILES. 

Spinning  and  Weaving  an  Ancient  Art.  Hargreaves'  Spinning  Jenny.  Ark- 
wright's  Roll-Drawing  Spinning  Machine.  Crompton's  Mule  Spinner.  The  Cotton 
Gin.  Ring  Spinning.  The  Rabbeth  Spindle.  John  Kay's  Flying  Shuttle  and  Robt. 
Kay's  Drop  Box.  Cartwright's  Power  Loom.  The  Jacquard  Loom.  Crompton's 
Fancy  Loom.  Bigelow's  Carpet  Looms.  Lyall  Positive  Motion  Loom.  Knitting 
Machines.  Cloth  Pressing  Machinery.  Artificial  Silk.  Mercerized  Cloth. 

CHAPTER    XXXII. 
ICE  MACHINES. 

General  Principles.  Freezing  Mixtures.  Perkins'  Ice  Machine,  1834.  Pictet's 
Apparatus.  Carre's  Ammonia  Absorption  Process.  Direct  Compression,  and  Can 
System.  The  Holden  Ice  Machine.  Skating  Rinks.  Windhausen's  Apparatus  for 
Cooling  and  Ventilating  Ships. 

CHAPTER    XXXIII. 
LIQUID  AIR. 

Liquefaction  of  Gases  by  Northmore — 1805,  Faraday — 1823,  Bussy — 1824,  Thilorier 
— 1834,  and  others.  Liquefaction  of  Oxygen,  Nitrogen  and  Air,  by  Pictet  and  Cailletet 
in  1877.  Self-Intensification  of  Cold  by  Siemens  in  1857,  and  Windhausen  in  1870. 
Operations  of  Dewar,  Wroblewski,  and  Olszewski.  Self-Intensifying  Processes  of 
Solvay,  Tripler,  Linde,  Hampson,  and  Ostergren  and  Berger.  Liquid  Air  Experi- 
ments and  Uses.- 

CHAPTER    XXXIV. 
MINOR  INVENTIONS, 

AND 
Patents  of  Principal  Countries  of  the  World. 

CHAPTER    XXXV. 
EPILOGUE. 


CHAPTER   I. 
THE  PERSPECTIVE  VIEW. 

STANDING  on  the  threshold  of  the  Twentieth  Century,  and  looking 
back  a  hundred  years,  the  Nineteenth  Century  presents  in  the 
field  of  invention  a  magnificent  museum  of  thoughts  crystallized 
and  made  immortal,  not  as  passive  gems  of  nature,  but  as  potent, 
active,  useful  agencies  of  man.  The  philosophical  mind  is  ever  accus- 
tomed to  regard  all  stages  of  growth  as  proceeding  by  slow  and  uniform 
processes  of  evolution,  but  in  the  field  of  invention  the  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury has  been  unique.  It  has  been  something  more  than  a  merely  normal 
growth  or  natural  development.  It  has  been  a  gigantic  tidal  wave  of 
human  ingenuity  and  resource,  so  stupendous  in  its  magnitude,  so  com- 
plex in  its  diversity,  so  profound  in  its  thought,  so  fruitful  in  its  wealth, 
so  beneficent  in  its  results,  that  the  mind  is  strained  and  embarrassed  in  its 
effort  to  expand  to  a  full  appreciation  of  it.  Indeed,  the  period  seems  a 
grand  climax  of  discovery,  rather  than  an  increment  of  growth.  It  has 
been  a  splendid,  brilliant  campaign  of  brains  and  energy,  rising  to  the 
highest  achievement  amid  the  most  fertile  resources,  and  conducted  by 
the  strongest  and  best  equipment  of  modern  thought  and  modern  strength. 
The  great  works  of  the  ancients  are  in  the  main  mere  monuments  of 
the  patient  manual  labor  of  myriads  of  workers,  and  can  only  rank  with 
the  buildings  of  the  diatom  and  coral  insect.  Not  so  with  modern  achieve- 
ment. The  last  century  has  been  peculiarly  an  age  of  ideas  and  conserva- 
tion of  energy,  materialized  in  practical  embodiment  as  labor-saving  in- 
ventions, often  the  product  of  a  single  mind,  and  partaking  of  the  sacred 
quality  of  creation. 

The  old  word  of  creation  is,  that  God  breathed  into  the  clay  the  breath 
of  life.  In  the  new  world  of  invention  mind  has  breathed  into  matter,  and 
a  new  and  expanding  creation  unfolds  itself.  The  speculative  philosophy 
of  the  past  is  but  a  too  empty  consolation  for  short-lived,  busy  man,  and, 
seeing  with  the  eye  of  science  the  possibilities  of  matter,  he  has  touched 
ii  with  the  divine  breath  of  thought  and  made  a  new  world. 

When  the  Nineteenth  Century  registered  its  advent  in  history,  the 
world  of  invention  was  a  babe  still  in  its  swaddling  clothes,  but,  with  a 
consciousness  of  coming  power,  was  beginning  to  stretch  its  strong  young 


4  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

arms  into  the  tremendous  energy  of  its  life.  James  Watt  had  invented 
the  steam  engine.  Eli  Whitney  had  given  us  the  cotton  gin.  John  Gut- 
enberg had  made  his  printing  type.  Franklin  had  set  up  his  press.  The 
telescope  had  suggested  the  possibilities  of  ethereal  space,  the  compass 
was  already  the  mariner's  best  friend,  and  gunpowder  had  given  proof  of 
its  deadly  agency,  but  inventive  genius  was  still  groping  by  the  light  of  a 
tallow  candle.  Even  up  to  the  beginning  of  this  century  so  strong  a  hold 
had  superstition  on  the  human  mind,  that  inventions  were  almost  synony- 
mous with  the  black  arts,  and  the  struggling  genius  had  not  only  to  con- 
tend with  the  natural  laws  and  the  thousand  and  one  expected  difficulties 
that  hedge  the  path  of  the  inventor,  but  had  also  to  overcome  the  far 
greater  obstacles  of  ignorant  fear  and  bigoted  prejudice.  A  labor-saving 
machine  was  looked  upon  askance  as  the  enemy  of  the  working  man,  and 
many  an  earnest  inventor,  after  years  of  arduous  thought  and  painstaking 
labor,  saw  his  cherished  model  broken  up  and  his  hopes  forever  blasted  by 
the  animosity  of  his  fellow  men.  But  with  the  Nineteenth  Century  a  new 
era  has  dawned.  The  legitimate  results  of  inventions  have  been  realized 
in  larger  incomes,  shorter  hours  of  labor,  and  lives  so  much  richer  in 
health,  comfort,  happiness,  and  usefulness,  that  to-day  the  inventor  is  a 
benefactor  whom  the  world  delights  to  honor.  So  crowded  is  the  busy  life 
of  modern  civilization  with  the  evidences  of  his  work,  that  it  is  impossible 
to  open  one's  eyes  without  seeing  it  on  every  hand,  woven  into  the  very 
fabric  of  daily  existence.  It  is  easy  to  lose  sight  of  the  wonderful  when 
once  familiar  with  it,  and  we  usually  fail  to  give  the  full  measure  of  posi- 
tive appreciation  to  the  great  things  of  this  great  age.  They  burst  upon 
our  vision  at  first  like  flashing  meteors ;  we  marvel  at  them  for  a  little 
while,  and  then  we  accept  them  as  facts,  which  soon  become  so  common- 
place and  so  fused  into  the  common  life  as  to  be  only  noticed  by  their 
omission. 

To  appreciate  them  let  us  briefly  contrast  the  conditions  of  to-day  with 
those  of  a  hundred  years  ago.  This  is  no  easy  task,  for  the  comparison 
not  only  involves  the  experiences  of  twro  generations,  but  it  is  like  the  jux- 
taposition of  a  star  with  the  noonday  sun,  whose  superior  brilliancy  oblit- 
erates the  lesser  light.  But  reverse  the  wheels  of  progress,  and  let  us 
make  a  quick  run  of  one  hundred  years  into  the  past,  and  what  are  our 
experiences?  Before  we  get  to  our  destination  we  find  the  wheels  them- 
selves beginning  to  thump  and  jolt,  and  the  passage  becomes  more  diffi- 
cult, more  uncomfortable,  and  so  much  slower.  We  are  no  longer  gliding 
along  in  a  luxurious  palace  car  behind  a  magnificent  locomotive,  traveling 
on  steel  rails,  at  sixty  miles  an  hour,  but  we  find  ourselves  nearing  the  be- 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  5 

ginning  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  in  a  rickety,  rumbling,  dusty  stage- 
coach. Pause !  and  consider  the  change  for  a  moment  in  some  of  its 
broader  aspects.  First,  let  us  examine  the  present  more  closely,  for  the 
average  busy  man,  never  looking  behind  him  for  comparisons,  does  not 
fully  appreciate  or  estimate  at  its  real  value  the  age  in  which  he  lives. 
There  are  to-day  (statistics  of  1898),  445,064  miles  of  railway  tracks  in 
the  world.  This  would  build  seventeen  different  railway  tracks,  of  two 
rails  each,  around  the  entire  world,  or  would  girdle  mother  earth  with 
thirty-four  belts  of  steel.  If  extended  in  straight  lines,  it  would  build  a 
track  of  two  rails  to  the  moon,  and  more  than  a  hundred  thousand  miles 
beyond  it.  The  United  States  has  nearly  half  of  the  entire  mileage  of  the 
world,  and  gets  along  with  36,746  locomotives,  nearly  as  many  passenger 
coaches,  and  more  than  a  million  and  a  quarter  of  freight  cars,  which  lat- 
ter, if  coupled  together,  would  make  nearly  three  continuous  trains  reach- 
ing across  the  American  continent  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  Ocean. 
The  movement  of  passenger  trains  is  equivalent  to  dispatching  thirty- 
seven  trains  per  day  around  the  world,  and  the  freight  train  movement  is 
in  like  manner  equal  to  dispatching  fifty-three  trains  a  day  around  the 
world.  Add  to  this  the  railway  business  controlled  by  other  countries,  and 
one  gets  some  idea  of  how  far  the  stage-coach  has  been  left  behind.  To- 
day we  eat  supper  in  one  city,  and  breakfast  in  another  so  many  hundreds 
of  miles  east  or  west  as  to  be  compelled  to  set  our  watches  to  the  new  me- 
ridian of  longitude  in  order  to  keep  our  engagement.  But  railroads  and 
steam-cars  constitute  only  one  of  the  stirring  elements  of  modern  civiliza- 
tion. As  we  make  the  backward  run  of  one  hundred  years  we  have  passed 
by  many  milestones  of  progress.  Let  us  see  if  we  can  count  some  of  them 
as  they  disappear  behind  us.  We  quickly  lose  the  telephone,  phonograph 
and  graphophone.  We  no  longer  see  the  cable-cars  or  electric  railways. 
The  electric  lights  have  gone  out.  The  telegraph  disappears.  The  sewing 
machine,  reaper,  and  thresher  have  passed  away,  and  so  also  have  all  in- 
dia-rubber goods.  We  no  longer  see  any  photographs,  photo-engravings, 
photolithographs,  or  snap-shot  cameras.  The  wonderful  octuple  web  per- 
fecting printing  press;  printing,  pasting,  cutting,  folding,  and  counting 
newspapers  at  the  rate  of  96,000  per  hour,  or  1,600  per  minute,  shrinks  at 
the  beginning  of  the  century  into  an  insignificant  prototype.  We  lose  all 
planing  and  wood-working  machinery,  and  with  it  the  endless  variety  of 
sashes,  doors,  blinds,  and  furniture  in  unlimited  variety.  There  are  no 
gas-engines,  no  passenger  elevators,  no  asphalt  pavement,  no  steam  fire 
engine,  no  triple-expansion  steam  engine,  no  Giffard  injector,  no  cellu- 
loid articles,  no  barbed  wire  fences,  no  time-locks  for  safes,  no  self-bind- 


6  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

ing  harvesters,  no  oil  nor  gas  wells,  no  ice  machines  nor  cold  storage.  We 
lose  air  engines,  stem-winding  watches,  cash-registers  and  cash-carriers, 
the  great  suspension  bridges,  and  tunnels,  the  Suez  Canal,  iron  frame 
buildings,  monitors  and  heavy  ironclads,  revolvers,  torpedoes,  magazine 
guns  and  Catling  guns,  linotype  machines,  all  practical  typewriters,  all 
pasteurizing,  knowledge  of  microbes  or  disease  germs,  and  sanitary 
plumbing,  water-gas,  soda  water  fountains,  air  brakes,  coal-tar  dyes  and 
medicines,  nitro-glycerine,  dynamite  and  guncotton,  dynamo  electric  ma- 
chines, aluminum  ware,  electric  locomotives,  Bessemer  steel  with  its 
wonderful  developments,  ocean  cables,  enameled  iron  ware,  Welsbach  gas 
burners,  electric  storage  batteries,  the  cigarette  machine,  hydraulic 
dredges,  the  roller  mills,. middlings  purifiers  and  patent-process  flour,  tin 
can  machines,  car  couplings,  compressed  air  drills,  sleeping  cars,  the 
dynamite  gun,  the  McKay  shoe  machine,  the  circular  knitting  machine, 
the  Jacquard  loom,  wood  pulp  for  paper,  fire  alarms,  the  use  of  anaesthetics 
in  surgery,  oleomargarine,  street  sweepers,  Artesian  wells,  friction 
matches,  steam  hammers,  electro-plating,  nail  machines,  false  teeth,  arti- 
ficial limbs  and  eyes,  the  spectroscope,  the  Kinetescope  or  moving  pict- 
ures, acetylene  gas,  X-ray  apparatus,  horseless  carriages,  and — but, 
enough !  the  reader  exclaims,  and  indeed  it  is  not  pleasant  to  contemplate 
the  loss.  The  negative  conditions  of  that  period  extend  into  such  an  ap- 
palling void  that  we  stop  short,  shrinking  from  the  thought  of  what  it 
would  mean  to  modern  civilization  to  eliminate  from  its  life  these  potent 
factors  of  its  existence. 

Returning  to  the  richness  and  fullness  of  the  present  life,  we  shall 
first  note  chronologically  the  milestones  and  finger  boards  which  mark 
this  great  tramway  of  progress,  and  afterward  consider  separately  the 
more  important  factors  of  progress. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


CHAPTER    II. 

CHRONOLOGY  OF  LEADING  INVENTIONS  OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY 

1800 — Volta's  Chemical  Battery  for  producing  Electricity.  Louis  Rob- 
ert's Machine  for  Making  Continuous  Webs  of  Paper. 

1801 — Trevithick's  Steam  Coach  (first  automobile).  Brunei's  Mortising 
Machine.  Jacquard's  Pattern  Lcom.  First  Fire  Proof  Safe  by 
Richard  Scott.  Columbium  discovered  by  Hatchett. 

1802 — Trevithick  and  Vivian's  British  patent  for  Running  Coaches  by 
Steam.  Charlotte  Dundas  (Steamboat)  towed  canal  Boats  on  the 
Clyde.  Tantalum  discovered  by  Ekeberg.  First  Photographic 
Experiments  by  Wedgewood  and  Davy.  Bramah's  Planing  Ma- 
chine. 

1803 — Carpue's  Experiments  on  Therapeutic  Application  of  Electricity. 
Iridium  and  Osmium  discovered  by  Tenant,  and  Cerium  by  Ber- 
zelius.  Wm.  Horrocks  applies  Steam  to  the  Loom. 

1804 — Rhodium  and  Palladium  discovered  by  Wollaston.  First  Steam 
Railway  and  Locomotive  by  Richard  Trevithick.  Capt.  John 
Stevens  applies  twin  Screw  Propellers  in  Steam  Navigation. 
Winsor  takes  British  patent  for  Illuminating  Gas,  lights  Lyceum 
Theatre,  and  organizes  First  Gas  Company.  Lucas'  process  mak- 
ing Malleable  Iron  Castings. 

1805 — Life  Preserver  invented  by  John  Edwards  of  London.  Electro- 
plating invented  by  Brugnatelli. 

1806 — Jeandeau's  Knitting  Machine. 

1807 — First  practical  Steamboat  between  New  York  and  Albany  (Ful- 
ton's Clermont).  Discovery  of  Potassium,  Sodium  and  Boron  by 
Davy.  Forsyth's  Percussion  Lock  for  Guns. 

1808 — Barium,  Strontium,  and  Calcium  discovered  by  Davy.  Polariza- 
tion of  Light  from  Reflection  by  Malus.  Voltaic  arc  discovered  by 
Davy. 

1809 — Sommering's  Multi-wire  Telegraphy. 

1810 — System  of  Homoeopathy  organized  by  Hahneman. 

1811 — Discovery  of  Metal  Iodine  by  M.  Courtois.  Blenkinsop's  Loco- 
motive. Colored  Polarization  of  Light  by  Arago.  Thornton  and 
Hall's  Breech  Loading  Musket. 


8  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

1812— London  the  First  City  lighted  by  Gas.  Ritter's  Storage  Battery. 
Schilling  proposes  use  of  Electricity  to  blow  up  mines.  Zamboni's 
Dry  Pile  (prototype  of  dry  battery). 

1813 — Howard's  British  patent  for  Vacuum  Pan  for  refining  sugar. 
Hedley's  Locomotive  "Puffing  Billy."  Introduction  of  Stereotyp- 
ing in  the  United  States  by  David  Bruce. 

1814 — London  Times  printed  by  Konig's  rotary  steam  press.  Stephen- 
son's  First  Locomotive.  Demologos  built  by  Fulton  (the  first 
steam  war  vessel).  Heliography  by  Niepce.  Discovery  of 
Cyanogen  by  Gay  Lussac.  The  Kaleidoscope  invented  by  Sir 
David  Brewster. 

1815 — Safety  Lamp  by  Sir  Humphrey  Davy.  Seidlitz  Powders  invented. 
Gas  Meter  by  Clegg. 

1816 — The  "Draisine"  Bicycle.    Circular  Knitting  Machine  by  Brunei. 

1817 — Discovery  of  Selenium  by  Berzelius,  Cadmium  by  Stromeyer,  and 
Lithium  by  Arfvedson.  Hunt's  Pin  Machine. 

1818 — Brunei's  patent  Subterranean  and  Submarine  tunnels.  Electro- 
Magnetism  discovered  by  Oersted  of  Copenhagen. 

1819 — American  Steamer  Savannah  from  New  York  first  to  cross  At- 
lantic. Laennec  discovers  Auscultation  and  invents  Stethoscope. 
Blanchard's  Lathe  for  turning  Irregular  Forms. 

1820 — Electro-Magnetic  Multiplier  by  Schweigger.  Discoveries  in  Elec- 
tro-magnetism by  Ampere  and  Arago.  Bohnenberg's  Electroscope. 
Discovery  of  Quinine  by  Pelletier  and  Caventou.  Malam's  Gas 
Meter. 

1821 — Faraday  converts  Electric  Current  into  Mechanical  Motion. 

1822 — Babbage  Calculation  Engine. 

1823 — Liquefaction  and  Solidification  of  Gases  by  Faraday,  and  founda- 
tion of  ammonia  absorption  ice  machine  laid  by  him.  Seebeck  dis- 
covers Thermo-electricity.  Silicon  discovered  by  Berzelius. 

1824 — Discovery  of  metal  Zirconium  by  Berzelius.  Wright's  Pin  Ma- 
chine. 

1825 — First  Passenger  Railway  in  the  world  opened  between  Stockton 
and  Darlington.  Sturgeon  invents  prototype  of  Electro  Magnet. 
Beaumont's  discoveries  in  Digestion  (Alexis  San  Martin  1825-32). 

1826 — Discovery  of  Bromine  by  M.  Balard.  Barlow's  Electrical  Spur 
Wheel.  First  Railroad  in  United  States  built  near  Quincy,  Mass. 

1827 — Aluminum  reduced  by  Wohler.  Ohm's  Law  of  Electrical  Re- 
sistance. Hackworth's  Improvements  in  Locomotive.  Friction 
Matches  by  John  Walker. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  9 

1828 — Neilson's  Hot  Blast  for  Smelting  Iron.  Professor  Henry  invents 
the  Spool  Electro  Magnet.  Tubular  Locomotive  Boiler  by  Seguin. 
First  Artificial  production  of  organic  compounds  (urea)  by 
Wohler.  Thorium  discovered  by  Berzelius.  Yttrium  and  Glu- 
cinum  discovered  by  Wohler.  Nicol's  prism  for  Polarized  Light. 
Woodworth's  wood  planer.  Spinning  Ring  invented  by  John 
Thorp. 

1829 — Becquerel's  Double  Fluid  Galvanic  Battery.  George  Stephenson's 
Locomotive,  "Rocket,"  takes  prizes  of  Liverpool  and  Manchester 
Railway.  Importation  of  "Stourbridge  Lion,"  the  first  locomotive 
to  run  in  the  United  States.  Daguerreotype  invented.  Discovery 
of  Magnesium  by  Bussey. 

1830 — Vanadium  discovered  by  Sefstroem.  Abbe  Dal  Negro's  Elec- 
trically operated  pendulum.  Ericsson's  Steam  Fire  Engine. 

1831 — Faraday  discovers  Magnetic  Induction.  Professor  Henry  tele- 
graphs signals.  Professor  Henry  invents  his  Electric  Motor. 
Locomotive  "John  Bull"  put  in  service  on  Camden  and  Amboy  R. 
R.  Chloroform  discovered  by  Guthrie.  McCormick  first  experi- 
ments with  Reaper. 

1832 — Professor  Morse  conceives  the  idea  of  Electric  Telegraph.  First 
Magneto-Electric  Machines  by  Saxton  in  United  States  and  Pixii 
in  France.  Sturgeon's  Rotary  Electric  Motor.  Baldwin's  first 
locomotive,  "Old  Ironsides,"  built.  Link  Motion  for  Locomotive 
Engine  invented  by  James.  Chloral-hydrate  discovered  by  Liebig. 

1833 — Steam  Whistle  adopted  by  Stephenson.    Hussey's  Reaper  patented. 

1834 — Jacobi's  Rotary  Electric  Motor.  Henry  Bessemer  electro-plates 
lead  castings  with  copper.  Faraday  demonstrates  relation  of 
chemical  and  electrical  force.  McCormick  Reaper  patented.  Car- 
bolic Acid  discovered  by  Runge.  Perkin's  Ice  Machine. 

1835 — Forbes  proves  the  absence  of  heat  in  Moonlight.  Burden's  horse 
shoe  Machine. 

1836 — The  Daniell  Constant  Battery  invented.  Acetylene  Gas  produced 
by  Edmond  Davy.  Colt's  Revolver. 

1837 — Cooke  and  Wheatstone's  British  patent  for  Electric  telegraph. 
Steinheil  discovered  feasibility  of  using  the  earth  for  return  sec- 
tion of  electric  circuit.  Davenport's  Electric  Motor.  Spencer's  ex- 
periments in  electrotyping.  Galvanized  Iron  invented  by  Craufurd. 

1838 — Professor  Morse's  French  patent  for  Telegraph.  Jacobi's  Galvano- 
plastic  process  for  making  Electrotype  Printing  Plates.  Reflecting 
Stereoscope  by  Wheatstone.  Dry  Gas  Meter  by  Defries. 


10  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

1839 — Wreck  of  Royal  George  blown  up  by  Electro  Blasting.  Jacobi 
builds  first  Electrically  propelled  Boat.  Fox  Talbot  makes 
Photo  Prints  from  Negatives.  Professors  Draper  and  Morse  make 
first  Photographic  Portraits.  Mungo  Ponton  applies  Bichromate 
of  Potash  in  Photography.  Goodyear  discovers  process  of  Vul- 
canizing Rubber.  Lanthanum  and  Didymium  discovered  by 
Mosander.  Babbit  Metal  invented. 

1840 — Professor  Morse's  United  States  patent  for  Electric  Telegraph. 
Professor  Grove  makes  first  Incandescent  Electric  Lamp.  Ce- 
lestial Photography  by  Professor  Draper. 

1841 — Artesian  well  bored  at  Crenelle,  Paris.  Sickel's  Steam  Cut- 
off. Talbotype  Photos.  M.  Triger  invents  Pneumatic  Caissons. 

1842 — First  production  of  Illuminating  Gas  from  water  (water  gas)  by 
M.  Selligue.  Robt.  Davidson  builds  Electric  Locomotive. 
Nasmyth  patents  Steam  Hammer. 

1843 — Joule's  demonstration  as  to  the  Nature  of  Force.  Erbium  and 
Terbium  discovered  by  Mosander.  The  Thames  Tunnel  Opened. 

1844 — First  Telegraphic  Message  sent  by  Morse  from  Washington  to  Bal- 
timore. Application  Nitrous  Oxide  Gas  as  an  Anaesthetic  by  Dr. 
Wells. 

1845 — Ruthenium  discovered  by  Klaws.  The  Starr-King  Incandescent 
Electric  Lamp.  The  Hoe  Type  Revolving  Machine. 

1846 — House's  Printing  Telegrapn.  Howe's  Sewing  Machine.  Suez 
Canal  Started  (fourteen  years  building).  Crusell  of  St.  Peters- 
burgh  invents  Electric  Cautery.  Use  of  Ether  as  Anaesthetic  by 
Dr.  Morton.  Artificial  Legs.  Discovery  of  Planet  Neptune. 
Sloan  patents  Gimlet  Pointed  Screw.  Gun  Cotton  discovered  by 
Schonbein. 

1847 — Chloroform  introduced  by  Dr.  Simpson.  Nitro-Glycerine  discov- 
ered by  Sobrero.  Time-Locks  invented  by  Savage. 

1848 — Discovery  of  Satellites  of  Saturn  by  Lassell.  Bain's  Chemical 
Telegraph.  Bakewell's  Fac-Simile  Telegraph. 

1849 — Bourdon's  Pressure  Gauge.  Lenticular  Stereoscope  by  Brewster. 
Hibbert's  Latch  Needle  for  Knitting  Machine.  Corliss  Engine. 

1850 — First  Submarine  Cable — Dover  to  Calais.  Collodion  Process  in 
Photography.  Mercerizing  Cloth.  American  Machine-made 
Watches. 

1851 — Dr.  Page's  Electric  Locomotive.  The  Rhumkorff  Coil.  Scott 
Archer's  Collodion  Process  in  Photography.  Seymour's  Self- 


IX  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  11 

Raker  for  Harvesters.  Helmholtz  invents  Opthalmoscope.  May- 
nard  Breech  Loading  Rifle. 

1852 — Channing  and  Farmer  Fire  Alarm  Telegraph.  Fox  Talbot  first 
uses  reticulated  screen  for  Half  Tone  Printing. 

1853— Gintl's  Duplex  Telegraph  invented.  Electric  Lamps  devised  by 
Foucalt  and  Duboscq.  Watt  and  Burgess  Soda  Process  for  Mak- 
ing Wood  Pulp. 

1854 — Wilson's  Four  Motion  Feed  for  Sewing  Machines.  Melhuish  in- 
vents the  Photographic  Roll  Films.  Herman's  Diamond  Drill. 
Smith  and  Wesson  Magazine  Firearm  (Foundation  of  the  Win- 
chester). 

1855 — Bessemer  Process  of  Making  Steel.  Hjorth  invents  Dynamo  Elec- 
tric Machine.  Ericsson's  Air  Engine.  Niagara  Suspension 
Bridge.  Dr.  J.  M.  Taupenot  invents  Dry  Plate  Photography.  The 
Michaux  Bicycle. 

1856 — Hughes  Printing  Telegraph.  Alliance  Magneto  Electric  Machine. 
Woodruff  Sleeping  Car.  First  commercial  Aniline  Dyes  by 
Perkins.  Siemens  Regenerative  Furnace. 

1857 — Rogues'  Gallery  established  in  New  York.  Introduction  of  Iron 
Floor  Beams  in  building  Cooper  Institute.  Siemens  describes 
principle  of  Self  Intensification  of  Cold  (now  used  in  ice  and  liquid 
air  machines). 

1858 — Phelps  Printing  Telegraph  invented.  First  Atlantic  Cable  Laid. 
Paper  pulp  from  Wood  by  Yoelter.  First  use  of  Electric  Light  in 
Light  House  at  South  Foreland.  Giffard  Steam  Injector.  Gard- 
ner patents  first  Underground  Cable  Car  System. 

1859 — Discovery  Coal  Oil  in  United  States.  Moses  G.  Farmer  subdivides 
Electric  Current  through  a  number  of  Electric  Lamps,  and  lights 
first  dwelling  by  Electricity.  Great  Eastern  launched.  Osborne 
perfects  modern  process  of  Photolithography.  Professors  Kirch- 
hoff  and  Bunsen  map  Solar  Spectrum,  and  establish  Spectrum 
Analysis. 

1860 — Rubidium  and  Caesium  discovered  by  Bunsen.  Gaston  Plante's 
Storage  Battery.  Reis'  Crude  Telephone.  Thallium  discovered 
by  Crookes,  and  Indium  'by  Reich  and  Richter.  Spencer  and 
Henry  Magazine  Rifles.  Carre's  Ammonia  Absorption  Ice  Ma- 
chine. 

1861 — McKay  Shoe  Sewing  Machine.  Calcium  Carbide  produced  by 
Wohler.  Col.  Green  invents  Drive  Well.  Otis  Passenger  Ele- 
vator. First  Barbed  Wire  Fence. 


12  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

1862 — Ericsson's  Iron  Clad  Turret  Monitor.  Emulsions  and  improve- 
ments in  Dry  Plate  Photography  by  Russell  and  Sayce.  The  Gat- 
ling  Gun.  Timby's  Revolving  Turret. 

1863 — Schultz  white  gunpowder. 

1864— Nobel's  Explosive  Gelatine.  Rubber  Dental  Plates.  Cabin  John 
(Washington  Aqueduct)  Bridge  finished  (longest  masonry  span  in 
the  world). 

186$ — Louis  Pasteur's  work  in  Bacteriology  begun.  Martin's  Process 
of  making  Steel. 

1866 — Wilde's  Dynamo  Electric  Machine.  Burleigh's  Compressed  Air 
Rock  Drill'.  Whitehead  Torpedo. 

jgg^ — Siemens'  Dynamo  Electric  Machine.  Dynamite  Invented.  Tilgh- 
man's  Sulphite  Process  for  making  Wood  Pulp. 

1868 — Brickill's  Water  Heater  for  Steam  Fire  Engines.  MoncriefFs 
Disappearing  Gun  Carriage.  Oleomargarine  invented  by  Mege. 
Sholes  Typewriter. 

1869 — Suez  Canal  Opened.  Pacific  Railway  Completed.  First  Westing- 
house  Air-Brakes. 

1870 — The  Gramme  Dynamo  Electric  Machine.  Windhausen  Refriger- 
ating Machines.  Beleaguered  Paris  communicates  with  outer 
world  through  Micro-Photographs.  Hailer's  Rebounding  Gun 
Lock.  Dittmar's  Gunpowder. 

1871 — Hoe's  Web  Perfecting  Press  set  up  in  Office  New  York  Tribune. 
The  Locke  Grain  Binder.  Bridge  Work  in  Dentistry.  Mount 
Cenis  Tunnel  opened  for  traffic.  Phosphorus  Bronze.  Ingersoll 
Compressed  Air  Rock  Drill. 

1872 — Stearns  perfects  Duplex  Telegraph.  Westinghouse  Improved 
automatic  Air  Brake.  Lyall  Positive  Motion  Loom. 

1873 — Janney  Automatic  Car  Coupler.  Oleomargarine  patented  in 
United  States  by  Mege. 

1874 — Edison's  Ouadruplex  Telegraph.  Gorham's  Twine  Binder  for 
Harvesters.  Barbed  Wire  Machines.  St.  Louis  Bridge  finished. 

1875 — Lowe's  patent  for  Water  Gas  (illuminating  gas  made  from 
water).  Roller  Mills  and  Middlings  Purifier  for  making  flour. 
Gallium  discovered  by  Boisbaudran.  Pictet  Ice  Machine.  Gam- 
gee's  Skating  Rinks.  First  Cash  Carrier  for  Stores. 

1876 — Alexander  Graham  Bell's  Speaking  Telephone.  Hydraulic 
Dredges.  Cigarette  Machinery.  Photographing  by  Electric  Light 
by  Vander  Weyde.  Edison's  Electric  Pen.  Steam  Feed  for  Saw 
Mill  Carriages.  Introduction  of  Cable  Cars  by  Hallidie. 


7.V  THE  XIXETEENTH  CEXTURY.  13 

1877 — Phonograph  invented  by  Edison.  Otto  Gas  Engine.  Jablochkoff 
Electric  Candle.  Sawyer-Man  Electric  Lamp.  Berliner's  Tele- 
phone Transmitter  of  variable  resistance  (pat.  Nov.  17,  '91). 
Edison's  Carbon  Microphone  (pat.  May  3,  '92).  Discovery  of 
Satellites  of  Mars  by  Professor  Asaph  Hall,  and  its  so-called 
Canals  by  Schiaparelli.  Liquefaction  of  Oxygen,  Nitrogen  and 
Air  by  Pictet  and  Cailletet. 

1878 — Development  of  Remington  Typewriter.  Edison  invents  Carbon 
Filament  for  Incandescent  Electric  Lamp.  Gelatino-Bromide 
Emulsions  in  Photography.  Ytterbium  discovered  by  Marignac. 
Birkenhead  Yielding  Spinning  Spindle  Bearing.  Gessner  Cloth 
Press. 

1879 — Dr.  Siemens'  Electric  Railway  at  Berlin.  Mississippi  Jetties  com- 
pleted by  Capt.  Eads.  Samarium  discovered  by  Boisbaudran, 
Scandium  by  Nilson,  and  Thulium  by  Cleve.  The  Lee  Magazine 
Rifle. 

1880 — Faure's  Storage  Battery.  Eberth  and  Koch  discover  Bacillus  of 
Typhoid  Fever,  and  Sternberg  the  Bacillus  of  Pneumonia.  Edi- 
son's Magnetic  Ore  Concentrator.  Greener's  Hammerless  Gun. 
Rabbeth  Spinning  Spindle  patented. 

1 88 1 — Telegraphing  by  Induction  by  Wm.  W.  Smith.  Blake  Telephone. 
Transmitter.  Reece  Button  Hole  Machine.  Rack-a-rock  (ex- 
plosive) patented. 

1882 — Bacillus  of  Tuberculosis  identified  by  Koch,  and  Bacillus  of  Hydro- 
phobia by  Pasteur.  St.  Gothard  Tunnel  opened  for  traffic. 

1883 — Brooklyn  Suspension  Bridge  Completed. 

1884 — Antipyrene.  Mergenthaler's  first  Linotype  Printing  Machine  in- 
vented. Bacillus  of  Cholera  identified  by  Koch,  Bacillus  of  Diph- 
theria by  Loeffler,  and  Bacillus  of  Lockjaw  by  Nicolaier. 

1885 — Cowles'  Process  of  Manufacturing  Aluminum.  First  Electric 
Railway  in  America  installed  between  Baltimore  and  Hampden. 
Neodymium  and  Praseodymium  discovered  by  Welsbach.  Wels- 
bach  Gas  Burner  invented.  Blowing  up  of  Flood  Rock,  New  York 
Harbor.  "Bellite"  produced  by  Lamm,  and  "Melinite"  by  Turpin. 

1886 — Graphophone  invented.  Electric  Welding  by  Elihu  Thomson. 
Gadolinum  discovered  by  Marignac,  and  Germanium  by  Winkler. 

1887 — McArthur  and  Forrest's  Cyanide  Process  of  Obtaining  Gold.  Tes- 
la's  System  of  Polyphase  Currents. 

1888 — Electrocution  of  Criminals  adopted  in  New  York  State.  Harvey's 
Process  of  Annealing  Armor  Plate.  De  Laval's  Rotary  Steam 
Turbine.  "Kodak"  Snap-Shot  Camera.  Lick  Telescope.  De 
Chardonnet's  Process  of  Making  Artificial  Silk. 


14  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INDENTION 

1889 — Nickel  Steel.  Hall's  Process  of  Making  Aluminum.  Dudley 
Dynamite  Gun.  "Cordite"  (Smokeless  Powder)  produced  by 
Abel  and  Dewar. 

1890 — Mergenthaler's  Improved  Linotype  Machine.  Photography  in 
Colors.  The  Great  Forth  Bridge  finished.  Krag-Jorgensen  Maga- 
zine Rifle. 

1891 — Parsons'  Rotary  Steam  Turbine.     The  Northrup  Loom. 

1892 — The  explosive  -'Tndurite"  invented  by  Professor  Munroe. 

1893 — Acheson's  process  for  making  Carborundum.  The  Yerkes  Tele- 
scope. Edison's  Kinetoscope.  Production  of  Calcium  Carbide  in 
Electric  Furnace  by  Willson. 

1894 — Discovery  of  element  Argon  by  Lord  Rayleigh  and  Professor  Ram- 
sey. Thorite  produced  by  Bawden. 

1895 — X-Rays  discovered  and  applied  by  Roentgen.  Acetylene  Gas  from 
Calcium  Carbide  by  Willson.  Krupp  Armor  Plate.  Linde'S  Liquid 
air  apparatus. 

1896 — Marconi's  System  of  Wireless  Telegraphy.  Buffington-Crozier 
Disappearing  Gun. 

1897 — Schlick's  System  of  Balancing  Marine  Engines.  Discovery  of 
Krypton  by  Ramsey  and  Travers. 

1898 — Horry  and  Bradley's  process  of  making  Calcium  Carbide.  Dis- 
covery of  Neon  and  Metargon  by  Ramsey  and  Travers ;  Coronium 
by  Nasini ;  Xenon  by  Ramsey ;  Monium  by  Crookes,  and  Etherion 
by  Brush.  Mercerizing  Cloth  under  tension  to  render  it  Silky, 

1899 — Marconi  Telegraphs  without  wire  across  the  English  Channel. 
Oceanic  launched,  the  largest  steamer  ever  built. 

1900 — The  Grande  Lunette  Telescope  of  Paris  Exposition. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  15 


CHAPTER    111. 
THE  ELECTRIC  TELEGRAPH. 

THE  VOLTAIC  PILE — DANIELL'S  BATTERY — USE  OF  CONDUCTING  WIRE  BY  WEBER — 
STEIN HEIL  EMPLOYS  EARTH  AS  RETURN  CIRCUIT— PROF.  HENRY'S  ELECTRO  MAG- 
NET, AND  FIRST  TELEGRAPHIC  EXPERIMENT— PROF.  MORSE'S  TELEGRAPHIC  CODE 
AND  REGISTER — FIRST  LINE  BETWEEN  WASHINGTON  AND  BALTIMORE — BAIN'S 
CHEMICAL  TELEGRAPH — GINTL'S  DUPLEX  TELEGRAPH — EDISON'S  QUADRUPLEX— 
HOUSE'S  PRINTING  TELEGRAPH — FAC  SIMILE  TELEGRAPHS — CHANNING  AND 
FARMER  FIRE  ALARM — TELEGRAPHING  BY  INDUCTION — WIRELESS  TELEGRAPHY  BY 
MARCON  i — STATISTICS. 

IN  the  effort  to  lengthen  out  the  limited  span  of  life  into  a  greater  rec- 
ord of  results,  time  becomes  an  object  of  ecomony.  To  save  time  is 
to  live  long,  and  this  in  a  pre-eminent  degree  is  accomplished  by  the 
telegraph.  Of  all  the  inventions  which  man  has  called  into  exist- 
ence to  aid  him  in  the  fulfillment  of  his  destiny,  none  so  closely  resembles 
man  himself  in  his  dual  quality  of  body  and  soul  as  the  telegraph.  It  too 
has  a  body  and  soul.  We  see  the  wire  and  the  electro-magnet,  but  not  the 
vital  principle  which  animates  it.  Without  its  subtile,  pulsating,  intangi- 
ble spirit,  it  is  but  dead  matter.  But  vitalized  with  its  immortal  soul  it 
assumes  the  quality  of  animated  existence,  and  through  its  agency  thought 
is  extended  beyond  the  limitations  of  time  and  space,  and  flashes  through 
air  and  sea  around  the  world.  Its  moving  principle  flows  more  silently 
than  a  summer's  zephyr,  and  yet  it  rises  at  times  to  an  angry  and  deadly 
crash  in  the  lightning  stroke.  At  once  powerful  and  elusive,  it  remained 
for  Professor  Morse  to  capture  this  wild  steed,  and,  taming  it,  place  it 
in  the  permanent  service  of  man.  On  May  24,  1844,  there  went  over  the 
wires  between  Washington  and  Baltimore  the  first  message — "Wrhat  hath 
God  wrought?"  This  was  both  prayer  arid  praise,  and  no  more  lofty 
recognition  of  the  divine  power  and  beneficence  could  have  been  made. 
It  was  indeed  the  work  of  God  made  manifest  in  the  hands  of  His  chil- 
dren. 

Popular  estimation  has  always  credited  Prof.  Morse  with  the  inven- 
tion of  the  telegraph,  but  to  ascribe  to  him  all  the  praise  would  do  great 
injustice  to  many  other  worthy  workers  in  this  field,  some  of  whom  are  re- 
garded by  the  best  judges  to  be  entitled  to  equal  praise. 

The  practical  telegraph  as  originally  used  is  resolvable  into  four  es- 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


sential  elements,  viz.,  the  battery,  the  conducting  wire,  the  electro-magnet, 
and  the  receiving  and  transmitting  instruments. 

The  development  of  the  battery  began  with  Galvani  in  1790,  and  Volta 
in  1800.  Galvani  discovered  that  a  frog's  legs  would  exhibit  violent 
muscular  contraction  when  its  exposed  nerves  were  touched  with  one 
rnetal  and  its  muscles  were  touched  with  another  metal,  the  two  metals  be- 
ing connected.  >  The  effect  was  due  to  an  electric  current  generated  and 
acting  writh  contractile  effect  on  the  muscles  of  the  frog's  legs. 

From  this  phenomenon,  the  chemical  action  of  acids  upon  metals  and 
the  production  of  an  electric  current  were  ob- 
served, and  the  voltaic  pile  was  invented. 
This  consisted  of  alternate  discs  of  copper  and 
zinc,  separated  by  layers  of  cloth  steeped  in  an 
acidulated  solution.  This  was  the  invention 
of  Volta.  From  this  grew  the  Daniell  battery, 
invented  in  1836  by  Proi.  Daniell  of  London, 
quickly  followed  by  those  of  Grove,  Smee,  and 
others.  These  batteries  were  more  constant  or 
uniform  in  the  production  of  electricity,  were 
free  from  odors,  and  did  not  require  frequent 
cleaning,  as  did 
the  plates  of  the 
voltaic  pile, 
which  were  im 

'"'Hv  p^        portant     results 

FIG.  i.  for     telegraphic 

purposes.      The 

Daniell  battery  in  its  original  form  em- 
ployed an  acidulated  solution  of  sulphate  of 
copper  in  a  copper  cell  containing  a  porous 
cup,  and  a  cylinder  of  amalgamated  zinc  in 
the  porous  cup  and  surrounded  by  a  weak 
•acid  solution.  In  the  illustration,  which 
shows  a  slightly  modified  form,  a  cruciform 
rod  of  zinc  within  a  porous  cup  is  sur- 
rounded by  a  copper  cell,  the  whole  being 
enclosed  within  a  glass  jar. 

The  second  element  of  the  telegraph — the 
conducting  wire — was  scarcely  an  invention 
in  itself,  and  the  fact  that  electricity  would  FIG.  2._DANIELI/S  BATTERY. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


FIG.  3. — PROF.  HENRY'S  INTENSITY  MAGNET. 

act  at  a  distance  through  a  metal  conductor  had  been  observed  many  years 
before  the  Morse  telegraph  was  invented.  In  1823,  however,  Weber  dis- 
covered that  a  copper  wire  which  he  had  carried  over  the  houses  and 
church  steeples  of  Gottingen  from  the  observatory  to  the  cabinet  of  Natu- 
ral Philosophy,  required  no  special  insulation.  This  was  an'  important  ob- 


18 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


servation  in  the  practical  construction  of  telegraph  lines.  One  of  even 
greater  importance,  however,  was  that  of  Prof.  Steinheil,  of  Munich,  who, 
in  1837,'  made  the  discovery  of  the  practicability  of  using  the  earth  as  one- 
half,  or  the  return  section,  of  the  electric  conductor. 

The  third  element  of  the  telegraph  is  the  electro-magnet.  This,  and 
its  arrangement  as  a  relay  in  a  local  circuit,  was  a  most  important  inven- 
tion, and  contributed  quite  as  much  to  the  success  of  the  telegraph  as  did 
the  inventions  of  Prof.  Morse.  It  may  be  well  to  say  that  an  electro-mag- 
net is  a  magnet  which  attracts  an  iron  armature  when  an  electric  current 
is  sent  through  its  coil  of  wire,  and  loses  its  attractive  force  when  the 
circuit  is  cut  off,  thereby  rendering  it  possible  to  produce  mechanical  ef- 
fects at  a  distance  through  the  agency  of  electrical  impulses  only.  For 
the  electro-magnet  the  world  is  chiefly  indebted  to  Prof.  Joseph  Henry, 
formerly  of  Princeton,  N.  J.,  but  later  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution. 
In  1828  he  invented  the  energetic  modern  form  of  electro-magnet  with 
silk  covered  wire  wound  in  a  series  of  crossed  layers  to  form  a  helix  of 
multiple  layers  around  a  central  soft  iron  core,  and  in  1831  succeeded  in 
making  practical  the  production  of  mechanical  effects  at  a  distance,  by 
the  tapping  of  a  bell  by  a  rod  deflected  by  one  of  his  electro-magnets. 
This  experiment  may  be  considered  the  pioneer  step  of  the  telegraph. 

Great  as  was  the:  work  of  Prof.  Henry,  he  must  share  the  honors  with 
a  number  of  prior  inventors  who  made  the  electro-magnet  possible. 
Electro-magnetism,  the  underlying  principle  of  the  electro-magnet,  was 
first  discovered  in  1819  ty  Prof.  Oersted,  of  Copenhagen,  fii  1820 

FIG.  4.. 


Schweigger  added  the  multiplier.  Arago  in  the  same  year  discovered 
that  a  steel  rod  was  magnetized  when  placed  across  a  wire  carrying  an 
electric  current,  and  that  iron  filings  adhered  to  a  wire  carrying  a  voltaic 
current  and  dropped  off  when  the  current  was  broken.  M.  Ampere  sub- 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


19 


stituted  a  helix  for  the  straight  wire,  and  Sturgeon,  of  England,  in  1825 
made  the  real  prototype  of  the  electro-magnet  by  winding  a  piece  of  bare 
copper  wire  in  a  single  coil  around  a  varnished  and  insulated  iron  core  of 
a  horse  shoe  form,  but  the  powerful  and  effective  electro-magnet  of  Prof. 
Henry  is  to-day  an  essential  part  of  the  telegraph,  is  in  universal  use,  and 
is  the  foundation  of  the  entire  electrical  art.  It  is  unfortunate  that  Prof. 
Henry  did  not  perpetuate  the  records  of  his  inventions  in  patents,  to 
which  he  was  opposed,  for  there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  he  was  also 
the  original  inventor  of  the  important  arrangement  of  the  electro-magnet 
as  a  relay  in  local  circuit,  and  other  features,  which  have  been  claimed  by 
other  parties  upon  more  enduring  evidence,  but  perhaps  with  less  right 
of  priority. 

The  fourth  and  great  final  addition  to  the  telegraph  which  crowned  it 
with  success  was  the  Morse  register  and  alphabetical  code,  the  invention 
of  Prof.  Samuel  F.  B.  Morse,  of  Massachusetts.  Prof.  Morse's  invention 
was  made  in  1832,  while  on  board  ship  returning  from  Europe.  He  set 
up  an  experimental  line  in  1835,  and  got  his  French  patent  October  30, 
1838,  and  his  first  United  States  patent  June  20.  1840,  No.  1647.  ^n 
1844  tne  United  States  Congress  appropriated  $30,000  to  build  a  line  from 


wvwwv 


a    i       5 


mrwwvr 

±     ±       S.  04: 


FIG.    5. —  MORSE  S   FIRST   MODEL  PENDULUM   INSTRUMENT. 


20  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

Baltimore  to  Washington,  and  on  May  24,  1844,  the  notable  message, 
"What  Hath  God  wrought?"  went  over  the  wires. 

Morse's  first  model,  his  pendulum  instrument  of  1837,  is  illustrated  in 
Fig.  5.  A  pendulum  carrying  a  pencil  was  in  constant  contact  with  a 
strip  of  paper  drawn  beneath  the  pencil.  As  long  as  inactive  the  pencil 
made  a  straight  line.  The  pendulum  carried  also  an  armature,  and  an 
electro-magnet  was  placed  near  the  armature.  A  current  passed  through 
the  magnet  would  draw  the  pendulum  to  one  side.  On  being  released  the 
pendulum  would  return,  and  in  this  way  zigzag  markings,  as  shown  at  4 
and  5,  would  be  produced  on  the  strip  of  paper,  which  formed  the  alpha- 
bet. A  different  alphabet,  known  as  the  Morse  Code,  was  subsequently 


a 

__ 

1 



b 



2 



c 

.-    - 

3 



d 

•''  V  '.  ' 

4 



e 

_ 

5 



f 

n 

j 

g 



7 



h 



8 



i 

9 



It 



, 



I 





m 



? 



n 

—  - 

j 



0 

-    - 

•  <     » 



P 

<1 



& 

.    ... 

r 

-    -  - 

s 

'    -•>  -  :  . 

t 

— 

u 



V 



w 



X 



y 

z 

FIG.    6.— THE    MORSE    CODE. 


adopted  by  Morse,  and  in  1844  the  receiving  register  shown  at  Fig.  7  was 
adopted,  which  finally  assumed  the  form  shown  at  Fig.  8. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  21 

The  alphabet  consisted  simply  of  an  arrangement  of  dots  and  dashes 
in  varying  sequence.  The  register  is  an  apparatus  operated  by  the  com- 
bined effects  of  a  clock  mechanism  and  electro-magnet.  Under  a  roll,  see 


FIG.   7- — MORSE  RECEIVER. 

Fig.  8,  a  ribbon  of  paper  is  drawn  by  the  clockwork.  A  lever  having  an 
armature  on  one  end  arranged  over  the  poles  of  an  electro-magnet,  carries 
on  the  other  end  a  point  or  stylus.  When  an  electric  impulse  is  sent 
over  the  line  the  electro-magnet  attracts  the  armature,  and  the  stylus  on 
the  other  end  of  the  lever  is  brought  into  contact  with  the  paper  strip,  and 
makes  an  indented  impression.  A  short  impulse  gives  a  dot,  and  a  long 
impulse  holds  the  stylus  against  the  paper  long  enough  to  allow  the  clock 
mechanism  to  pull  the  paper  under  the  stylus  and  make  a  dash.  By  the 
manipulation  of  a  key  for  closing  the  electric  circuit  the  short  or  long 
impulse  may  be  sent,  at  the  pleasure  of  the  operator. 

This  constituted  the  completed  invention  of  the  telegraph,  and  on  com- 
paring the  work  of  Profs.  Henry  and  Morse,  it  is  only  fair  to  say  that 
Prof.  Henry's  contribution  to  the  telegraph  is  still  in  active  use,  while 
the  Morse  register  has  been  practically  abandoned,  as  no  expert  tel- 
egrapher requires  the  visible  evidence  of  the  code,  but  all  rely  now  entirely 
upon  the  sound  click  of  the  electro-magnet  placed  in  the  local  circuit  and 
known  as  a  sounder,  the  varying  time  lengths  of  gaps  between  the  clicks 
serving  every  purpose  of  rapid  and  intelligent  communication.  The  in- 
vention of  the  telegraph  has  been  claimed  for  Steinheil,  of  Munich,  and 


22 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


also  for  Cooke  and  Wheatstone,  in  England,  but  few  will  deny  that  it  is 
to  Prof.  Morse's  indefatigable  energy  and  inventive  skill,  with  the  pre- 
liminary work  of  Prof.  Henry,  that  the  world  to-day  owes  its  great  gift 


FIG.  8. — PERFECTED   MORSE  REGISTER. 

of  the  electric  telegraph,  and  with  this  gift  the  world's  great  nervous 
forces  have  been  brought  into  an  intimate  and  sensitive  sympathy. 

Whenever  an  invention  receives  the  advertisement  of  public  approval 
and  commercial  exploitation,  the  development  of  that  invention  along 
various  lines  follows  rapidly,  and  so  when  practical  telegraphic  com- 
munication was  solved  by  Henry,  Morse,  and  others,  further  advances  in 
various  directions  were  made.  Efforts  to  increase  the  rapidity  in  sending 
messages  soon  grew  into  practical  success,  and  in  1848  Bain's  Chemical 
Telegraph  was  brought  out.  (U.  S.  Pats.  No.  5,957,  Dec.  5,  1848,  and 
No.  6,328,  April  17,  1849.)  Tms  employed  perforated  strips  of  paper  to 
effect  automatic  transmission  by  contact  made  through  the  perforations  in 
place  of  the  key,  while  a  chemically  prepared  paper  at  the  opposite  end  of 
the  line  was  discolored  by  the  electric  impulses  to  form  the  record.  This 
was  the  pioneer  of  the  automatic  system  which  by  later  improvements  is 
able  to  send  over  a  thousand  words  a  minute. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


In  line  with  other  efforts  to  increase  the  capacity  of  the  wires,  the 
duplex  telegraph  was  invented  by  Dr.  William  Gintl,  of  Austria,  in  1853, 


FIG.   9. — HOUSE  PRINTING  TELEGRAPH. 

and  was  afterwards  improved  by  Carl  Frischen,  of  Hanover,  and  by 
Joseph  B.  Stearns,  of  Boston,  Mass,  who  in  1872  perfected  the  duplex  (U. 

S.  Pats.  No.  126,847,  May  14, 
1872,  and  No.  132,933,  Nov. 
12,  1872).  This  system  doub- 
les the  capacity  of  the  tele- 
graphic wire,  and  its  principle 
of  action  permits  messages  sent 
from  the  home  station  to  the 
distant  station  to  have  no  effect 
on  the  home  station,  but  full 
effect  on  the  distant  station,  so 
that  the  operators  at  the  oppo- 
rite  ends  of  the  line  may  both 
telegraph  over  the  same  wire, 
at  the  same  time,  in  opposite 
directions.  This  system  has 
been  further  enlarged  by  the 
quadruplex  system  of  Edison, 
.  „„„  which  was  brought  out  in  1874 

FIG.    10.—  STOCK  BROKER  S      TICKER,      WITH  . 

GLASS  COVER  REMOVED.  (and  subsequently  developed  in 


24 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


U.  S.  Pat.  No.  209,241,  Oct.  22,  1878).  This  enabled  four  messages 
to  be  sent  over  the  same  wire  at  the  same  time,  and  is  said  to  have  in- 
creased the  value  of  the  Western  Union  wires  $15,000,000. 

In  1846  Royal  C.  House  invented  the  printing  telegraph,  which  printed 
the  message  automatically  on  a  strip  of  paper,  something  after  the  man- 
ner of  the  typewriter  (U.  S. 
Pat.  No.  4,464,  April  1 8, 
1846).  The  ingenious  mech- 
anism involved  in  this  was 
somewhat  complicated,  but 
its  results  in  printing  the 
message  plainly  wrere  very 
satisfactory.  This  was  the 
prototype  of  the  familiar 
"ticker"  of  the  stock  broker's 
office,  seen  in  Figs.  10  and 
ii.  In  1856  the  Hughes 
printing  telegraph  was 
brought  out  (U.  S.  Pat.  Xo. 
14,917,  May  20,  1856),  and 
in  1858  G.  M.  Phelps  com- 
bined the  valuable  features 
of  the  Hughes  and  House 
systems  (U.  S.  Pat.  No.  26,- 
003,  Nov.  i,  1859). 

Fac  Simile  telegraphs 
constitute  another,  although 
less  important  branch  of  the 
art.  These  accomplished  the  striking  result  of  reproducing  the  mes- 
sage at  the  end  of  the  line  in  the  exact  handwriting  of  the  sender, 
and  not  only  writing,  but  exact  reproductions  of  all  outlines,  such  as  maps, 
pictures,  and  so  forth,  may  be  sent.  The  fac  simile  telegraph  originated 
with  F.  C.  Bakewell,  of  England,  in  1848  (Br.  Pat.  No.  12,352,  of  1848). 

The  Dial  Telegraph  is  still  another  modification  of  the  telegraph.  In 
this  the  letters  are  arranged  in  a  circular  series,  and  a  light  needle  or 
pointer,  concentrically  pivoted,  is  carried  back  and  forth  over  the  letters, 
and  is  made  to  successively  point  to  the  desired  letters. 

Among  other  useful  applications  of  the  telegraph  is  the  fire  alarm  sys- 
tem. In  1852  Channing  and  Farmer,  of  Boston,  Mass.,  devised  a  system 


FIG.  II. — RECEIVING  MESSAGE  ON  STOCK 
BROKER'S  "TICKER." 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


25 


of  telegraphic  fire  alarms,  which  was  adopted  in  the  city  of  Boston  (U.  S. 
Pat.  No.  17,355,  May  19>  ! 857), 'and  which  in  varying  modifications  has 
spread  through  all  the  cities  of  the  world,  introducing  that  most  important 
element  of  time  economy  in  the  extinguishment  of  fires.  Hundreds  of 
cities  and  millions  of  dollars  have  been  thus  saved  from  destruction. 

Similar  applications  of  local  alarms  in  great  numbers  have  been  ex- 
tended into  various  departments  of  life,  such  as  District  Messenger  Serv- 
ice, Burglar  Alarms,  Railroad-Signal  Systems,  Hotel- Annunciators,  and 
so  on. 


C/l/?      Tff/tCK 


FIG.     12. — TELEGRAPHING    BY    INDUCTION. 

For  furnishing  current  for  telegraphic  purposes  the  dynamo,  and  espe- 
cially the  storage  battery,  have  in  late  years  found  useful  application.  In 
fact,  in  the  leading  telegraph  offices  the  storage  battery  has  practically 
superseded  the  old  voltaic  cells. 

Telegraphing  by  induction,  i.  e.,  without  the  mechanical  connection  of 
a  conducting  wire,  is  another  of  the  developments  of  telegraphy  in  recent 
years,  and  finds  application  to  telegraphing  to  moving  railway  trains. 
When  an  electric  current  flows  over  a  telegraph  line,  objects  along  its 


26  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

length  are  charged  at  the  beginning  and  end  of  the  current  impulse  with  a 
secondary  charge,  which  flows  to  the  earth  if  connection  is  afforded.  It  is 
the  discharge  of  this  secondary  current  from  the  metal  car  roof  to  the 
ground  which,  on  the  moving  train,  is  made  the  means  of  telegraphing 
without  any  mechanical  connection  with  the  telegraph  lines  along  the 
track.  As,  however,  this  secondary  circuit  occurs  only  at  the  making  and 
breaking  of  the  telegraphic  impulse,  the  length  of  the  impulse  affords  no 
means  of  differentiation  into  an  alphabet,  and  so  a  rapid  series  of  impulses, 
caused  by  the  vibrator  of  an  induction  coil,  is  made  to  produce  buzzing 
tones  of  various  duration  representing  the  alphabet,  and  these  tones  are 
received  upon  a  telephone  instead  of  a  Morse  register.  The  diagram,  Fig. 
12,*  illustrates  the  operation. 

To  receive  messages  on  a  car,  electric  impulses  on  the  telegraph  wire 
W,  sent  from  the  vibrator  of  an  induction  coil,  cause  induced  currents  as 
follows :  Car  roof  R,  wire  a,  key  K,  telephone  b  c,  car  wheel  and  earth.  In 
sending  messages  closure  of  key  K  works  induction  coil  I  C,  and  vibrator 
V,  through  battery  B,  and  primary  circuit  d,  e,  f,  g,  and  the  secondary  cir- 
cuit a,  h,  i,  charges  the  car  roof  and  influences  by  induction  the  telegraph 
wire  W  and  the  telephone  at  the  receiving  station. 

In  1 88 1  William  W.  Smith  proposed  the  plan  of  communicating  be- 
tween moving  cars  and  a  stationary  wire  by  induction  (U.  S.  Pat.  No. 
247,127,  Sept.  13,  1881).  Thomas  A.  Edison,  L.  J.  Phelps,  and  others 
have  further  improved  the  means  for  carrying  it  out.  In  1888  the  princi- 
ple was  successfully  employed  on  200  miles  of  the  Lehigh  Valley  Railroad. 

Wireless  Telegraphy,  or  telegraphing  without  any  wires  at  all,  from 
one  point  to  another  point  through  space,  is  the  most  modern  and  startling 
development  in  telegraphy.  To  the  average  mind  this  is  highly  suggestive 
of  scientific  imposition,  so  intangible  and  unknown  are  the  physical  forces 
by  which  it  is  rendered  possible,  and  yet  this  is  one  of  the  late  achieve- 
ments of  the  Nineteenth  Century.  Many  scientists  have  contributed  data 
on  this  subject,  but  the  principles  and  theories  have  only  begun  to  crystal- 
lize into  an  art  during  the  first  part  of  the  last  decade  of  the  Nineteenth 
Century.  Heinrich  Hertz,  the  German  scientist,  was  perhaps  the  real 
pioneer  in  this  line  in  his  studies  and  observations  of  the  nature  of  the 
electric  undulations  which  have  taken  his  name,  and  are  known  as  "Hertz- 
ian" waves,  rays,  or  oscillations.  Tesla  in  the  United  States.  Branly  and 
Ducretet  in  France,  Righi  in  Italy,  the  Russian  savant,  Popoff,  and  Pro- 
fessor Lodge,  of  England,  have  all  made  contributions  to  this  art.  It  will 


From  "Electricity  in  Daily  Life,"  by  courtesy  of  Charles  Scribner's  Sons. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


27 


aid  the  understanding  to  say,  in  a  preliminary  way,  that  electric  undula- 
tions are  generated  and  emitted  from  a  plate  or  conductor  a  hundred  feet 

or    more    high  in  the  air,  are    thence    transmitted          

through  space  to  a  remote  point,  which  may  be  many 
miles  away,  and  there  influencing  a  similar  plate 
high  in  the  air  give,  through  a  special  form  of  re- 
ceiving device  known  as  a  "coherer,"  a  telegraphic 
record.  The  "coherer,"  invented  by  Branly  in  1891, 
is  a  glass  tube  containing  metal  filings  between  two 
circuit  terminals.  The  electric  waves  cause  these 
filings  to  .cohere,  and  so  vary  the  resistance  to  the 
passage  of  the  current  as  to  give  a  basis  for  trans- 
formation into  a  record. 

In  March,  1899,  Signor  Guglielmo  Marconi,  an 
Italian  student,  then  residing  in  England,  success- 
fully communicated  between  South  Foreland,  Coun- 
ty of  Kent,  and  Boulogne-sur-mer,  in  France,  a  dis- 
tance of  thirty-two  miles  across  the  English  Channel. 
Signor  Marconi  used  the  vertical  conductors  and 


FIG.    13. — WIRELESS   TELEGRAPHY,  INTERNATIONAL  YACHT  RACES,  OCTOBER,   1899. 


28  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

the  Hertz-oscillation  principle,  and  his  system  is  described  in  his  United 
States  patent,  No.  586,193,  July  13,  1897. 

His  patent  comprehends  many  claims,  a  leading  feature  of  which  is  the 
means  for  automatically  shaking  the  "coherer"  to  break  up  the  cohesion  of 
the  metal  filings  as  embodied  in  his  firs.t  claim,  as  follows : 

"In  a  receiver  for  electrical  oscillations,  the  combination  of  an  imperfect  electrical 
contact,  a  circuit  through  the  contact,  and  means  actuated  by  the  circuit  for  shaking 
the  contact." 

The  Marconi  system  of  wireless  telegraphy  was  practically  employed 
with  useful  effect  April  28,  1899,  on  the  "Goodwin  Sands"  light-ship  to 
telegraph  for  assistance  when  in  collision  twelve  miles  from  land  and  in 
danger  of  sinking.  It  was  also  used  in  October,  1899,  on  board  the 
"Grande  Duchesse"  to  report  the  international  yacht  race  between  the 
"Columbia"  and  the  "Shamrock"  at  Sandy  Hook,  as  seen  in  Fig.  13.  Lord 
Roberts  also  made  good  use  of  it  in  his  South  African  campaign  against 
the  Boers.  According  to  Signer  Marconi  its  present  range  is  limited  to 
eighty-six  miles,  but  it  is  expected  that  this  will  be  soon  extended  to  150 
miles. 

Marconi's  receiving  apparatus  is  shown  in  Fig.  133,  and  consists  of  a 
small  glass  tube  called  the  coherer,  about  il/2  inches  in  length,  into  the 


FIG.     I3A. — THE    COHERER. 

ends  of  which  are  inserted  two  silver  pole  pieces,  which  fit  the  tube,  but 
whose  ends  are  1-50  inch  apart.  The  space  between  the  ends  is  filled  with 
a  mixture  composed  of  fine  nickel  and  silver  filings  and  a  mere  trace  of 
mercury,  and  the  other  ends  of  the  pole  pieces  are  attached  to  the  wires  of 
a  local  circuit.  In  the  normal  condition  the  metallic  filings  have  an  enor- 
mous resistance,  and  constitute  a  practical  insulator,  preventing  the  flow 
of  the  local  current ;  but  if  they  are  influenced  by  electric  waves,  coherence 
takes  place  and  the  resistance  falls,  allowing  the  local  current  to  pass. 
The  coherence  will  continue  until  the  filings  are  mechanically  shaken, 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


29 


.when  they  will  at  once  fall  apart,  as  it  were,  insulation  will  be  established, 
and  the  current  will  be  broken.  If,  then,  a  coherer  be  brought  within  the 
influence  of  the  electric  waves  thrown  out  from  a  transmitter,  coherence 
will  occur  whenever  the  key  of  the  transmitter  at  the  distant  station  is 
depressed.  Mr.  Marconi  has  devised  an  ingenious  arrangement,  which  is 
the  subject  of  his  patent  referred  to,  in  which  a  small  hammer  is  made  to 
rap  continuously  upon  the  coherer  by  the  action  of  the  local  circuit,  which 
is  closed  when  the  Hertzian  waves  pass  through  the  metal  filings.  As  soon 
as  the  waves  cease,  the  hammer  gives  its  last  rap,  and  the  tube  is  left  in  the 
decohered  condition  ready  for  the  next  transmission  of  waves.  It  is  evi- 
dent that  by  making  the  local  circuit  operate  a  relay,  in  the  circuit  of  which 
is  a  standard  recording  instrument,  the  messages  may  be  recorded  on  a 
tape  in  the  usual  way. 

In  Fig.  I3b  is  shown  the  diagram  of  circuits.    The  letters  d  d  indicate 
the  spheres  of  the  transmitter,  which  are  connected,  one  to  the  vertical 


FIG.    I3B. — DIAGRAM   OF  THE  TRANSMITTER  AND  RECEIVER. 

wire  re1,  the  oilier  to  earth,  and  both  by  wires  c'  c' ,  to  the  terminals  of  the 
secondary  winding  of  induction  coil,  c.  In  the  primary  circuit  is  the  key 
b.  The  coherer  /  has  two  metal  pole  pieces,  jl  j2,  separated  by  silver  and 
nickel  filings.  One  end  of  the  tube  is  connected  to  earth,  the  other  to  the 
vertical  wire  zv,  and  the  coherer  itself  forms  part  of  a  circuit  containing 
the  local  cell  g,  and  a  sensitive  telegraph  relay  actuating  another  circuit, 
which  circuit  works  a  trembler  p,  of  which  o  is  the  decohering  tapper,  or 
hammer.  When  the  electric  waves  pass  from  zv  to  /'  j2  the  resistance 
falls,  and  the  current  from  g  actuates  the  relay  n,  the  choking  coils  k  k, 
lying  between  the  coherer  and  the  relay,  compelling  the  electric  waves  to 
traverse  the  coherer  instead  of  flowing  through  the  relay.  The  relay  n  in 
its  turn  causes  the  more  powerful  battery  r  to  pass  a  current  through 


30  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

the  tapper,  and  also  through  the  electro-magnet  of  the  recording  instru- 
ment h. 

The  alternate  cohering  by  the  waves  and  decohering  by  the  tapper 
continue  uninterruptedly  as  long  as  the  transmitting  key  at  the  distant 
station  is  depressed.  The  armature  of  the  recording  instrument,  however, 
because  of  its  inertia,  cannot  rise  and  fall  in  unison  with  the  rapid  coher- 
ence and  decoherence  of  the  receiver,  and  hence  it  remains  down  and 
makes  a  stroke  upon  the  tape  as  long  as  the  sending  key  is  depressed. 

The  principal  applications  of  wireless  telegraphy  so  far  have  been  at 
sea,  where  the  absence  of  intervening  obstacles  gives  a  free  path  to  the 
electrical  oscillations.  The  system  is  also  applicable  on  land,  however,  and 
no  one  can  doubt  that  if  the  Ministers  of  the  Legations  shut  up  in  Pekin 
had  been  supplied  with  a  wireless  telegraphy  outfit,  neither  the  walls  of 
Pekin  nor  the  strongest  cordon  of  its  Chinese  hordes  could  have  prevented 
the  long  sought  communication.  The  full  story  of  mystery  and  massacre 
would  have  been  promptly  made  known,  and  the  civilized  world  have  been 
spared  its  anxiety,  and  earlier  and  effective  measures  of  relief  supplied. 

As  the  art  of  telegraphy  grows  apace  toward  the  end  of  the  Nineteenth 
Century,  individuality  of  invention  becomes  lost  in  the  great  maze  of  mod- 
ifications, ramifications,  and  combinations.  Inventions  become  merged  in- 
to systems,  and  systems  become  swallowed  up  by  companies.  In  the 
promises  of  living  inventors  the  wish  is  too  often  father  to  the  thought, 
and  the  conservative  man  sees  the  child  of  promise  rise  in  great  expecta- 
tion, flourish  for  a  few  years,  and  then  subside  to  quiet  rest  in  the  dusty 
archives  of  the  Patent  Office.  They  all  contribute  their  quota  of  value,  but 
it  is  so  difficult  to  single  out  as  pre-eminent  any  one  of  those  which  as  yet 
are  on  probation,  that  we  must  leave  to  the  coming  generation  the  task  of 
making  meritorious  selection. 

To-day  the  telegraph  is  the  great  nerve  system  of  the  nation's  body, 
and  it  ramifies  and  vitalizes  every  part  with  sensitive  force.  In  1899  the 
Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  alone  had  22,285  offices,  904,633 
miles  of  wire,  sent  61,398,157  messages,  received  in  money  $23,954,312, 
and  enjoyed  a  profit  of  $5,868,733.  Add  to  this  the  business  of  the  Postal 
Telegraph  Company  and  other  companies,  and  it  becomes  well  nigh  im- 
possible to  grasp  the  magnitude  of  this  tremendous  factor  of  Nineteenth 
Century  progress.  Figures  fail  to  become  impressive  after  they  reach  the 
higher  denominations,  and  it  may  not  add  much  to  either  the  reader's  con- 
ception or  his  knowledge  to  say  that  the  statistics  for  the  whole  world  for 
the  year  1898  show:  103,832  telegraph  offices,  2,989,803  miles  of  wire, 
and  365,453,526  messages  sent  during  that  year.  This  wire  would  extend 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  31 

around  the  earth  about  120  times,  and  the  messages  amounted  to  one  mil- 
lion a  day  for  every  day  in  that  year.  This  is  for  land  telegraphs  only,, 
and  does  not  include  cable  messages. 

What  saving  has  accrued  to  the  world  in  the  matter  of  time,  and  what 
development  in  values  in  the  various  departments  of  life,  and  what  con- 
tributions to  human  comfort  and  happiness  the  telegraph  has  brought 
about,  is  beyond  human  estimate,  and  is  too  impressive  a  thought  for 
speculation. 


32 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


CHAPTER    IV. 

THE  ATLANTIC  CABLE. 

DIFFICULTIES  OF   LAYING — CONGRATULATORY   MESSAGES   BETWEEN   QUEEN   VICTORIA 
AND  PRESIDENT  BUCHANAN — THE  SIPHON  RECORDER — STATISTICS. 

A"  JONG  the  applications  of  the  telegraph  which  deserve  special  men- 
tion for  magnitude  and  importance  is  the  Atlantic  Cable.     For 
boldness  of  conception,  tireless  persistence  in  execution,  and  value 
of  results,  this  engineering  feat,  though  nearly  a  half  century  old. 
still  challenges  the  admiration  of  the  world,  and  marks  the  beginning  of 
one  of  the  great  epochs  of  the  Nineteenth  Century.    It  was  not  so  brilliant 
in  substantive  invention,  as  it  added  but  little  to  the  telegraph  as  already 
known,  beyond  the  means  for  insulating  the  wires  within  a  gutta  percha 
cable,  but  it  was  one  of  the  greatest  of  all  engineering  works.     It  was 

chiefly  the  result  of 
the  energy  and  public 
spirit  of  Mr.  Cyrus 
W.  Field,  an  eminent 
American  citizen. 
Three  times  was  its 
laying  attempted  be- 
fore success  crowned 
the  work.  The  first 
expedition  sailed 
August  7,  1857,  and 
consisted  of  a  fleet  of 
eight  vessels,  four 
American  and  four 
English,  starting  from 
A*alentia  on  the  Irish 


FIG.    14. — ORIGINAL   ATLANTIC .  CABLE,   FULL   SIZE. 


Consists  of  seven  copper  wires  (4)  to  form  the  con- 
ductor, a  wrapping  (3)  of  thread,  soaked  in  tallow  and 
pitch,  several  layers  (2)  of  gutta  percha,  all  surrounded 
by  a  protecting  coat  of  mail  (i)  of  twisted  wires. 


coast.  On  August 
ii  the  cable  parted, 
and  344  miles  of  the  cable  were  lost  in  water  two  miles  deep.  In  1858  a 
renewal  of  the  effort  to  lay  the  cable  was  made.  Improvements  were 
added  in  the  paying  out  machinery,  and  a  different  manner  of  coiling  the 
enormous  load  of  cable  on  the  vessels  was  resorted  to,  and  provisions  also 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  33 

were  made  to  protect  the  propeller  from  contact  with  the  cable.  On  June 
10  the  telegraphic  fleet  steamed  out  of  Plymouth  harbor.  It  consisted  of 
the  U.  S.  frigate  "Niagara,"  with  the  paddle-wheel  steamer  "Valorous"  as 
a  tender,  and  the  British  frigate  "Agamemnon,"  with  the  paddle-wheel 
steamer  "Gorgon"  as  a  tender.  After  three  days  at  sea,  terrible  gales 
were  encountered  and  much  damage  resulted.  The  vessels  were  to  pro- 
ceed to  midocean,  and  the  portions  of  the  cable  carried  by  the  "Niagara" 
and  "Agamemnon"  were  to  be  spliced,  and  the  two  vessels  were  then  to 
sail  in  opposite  directions  to  their  respective  coasts.  The  first  splice  was 
made  on  the  26th  of  June.  After  paying  out  two  and  a  half  miles  each, 
the  cable  parted.  Again  meeting  and  splicing,  forty  miles  each  were  paid 
out,  and  the  cable  again  parted.  On  the  28th  another  splicing  was  ef- 
fected, and  150  miles  each  were  paid  out,  and  again  the  cable  parted,  and 
the  expedition  had  to  be  abandoned.  After  much  financial  embarrassment 
arid  adverse  criticism,  the  courageous  and  public-spirited  directors  who 
had  control  of  the  enterprise  dispatched  another  expedition,  which  sailed 
July  17,  1858.  The  two  vessels,  "Niagara"  and  "Agamemnon,"  with  their 
tenders,  proceeded  to  midocean,  and  following  the  same  method  of  con- 
necting the  ends  of  their  respective  cable  sections,  they  sailed  in  opposite 
directions.  On  August  5,  1858,  Mr.  Cyrus  Field  announced  by  telegram 
from  Trinity  Bay,  on  the  coast  of  Newfoundland,  that  Trinity  Bay  in 
America,  and  Valentia  in  Ireland,  2,134  miles  apart,  had  been  connected, 
and  the  great  Atlantic  cable  was  an  established  fact. 

On  August  1 6,  1858,  the  first  message  came  over  from  Queen  Victoria 
to  President  Buchanan  of  the  United  States,  as  follows : 

"To  the  President  of  the  United  States,  Washington: 

"The  Queen  desires  to  congratulate  the  President  upon  the  successful 
completion  of  this  great  international  work,  in  which  the  Queen  has  taken 
the  deepest  interest. 

"The  Queen  is  convinced  that  the  President  will  join  with  her  in  fervently 
hoping  that  the  Electric  Cable  which  now  connects  Great  Britain  with  the 
United  States  will  prove  an  additional  link  between  the  nations  whose 
friendship  is  founded  upon  their  common  interest  and  reciprocal  esteem. 

"The  Queen  has  much  pleasure  in  thus  communicating  with  the  President, 
and  renewing  to  him  her  wishes  for  the  prosperity  of  the  United  States." 

to  which  the  President  replied  as  follows : 

"WASHINGTON  CITY,  Aug.  16,  1858. 
"To  Her  Majesty  Victoria,  Queen  of  Great  Britain: 

"The  President  cordially  reciprocates  the  congratulations  of  Her  Ma- 
jesty, the  Queen,  on  the  success  of  the  great  international  enterprise  accom- 
plished by  the  science,  skill,  and  indomitable  energy  of  the  two  countries. 


34  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

It  is  a  triumph  more  glorious,  because  far  more  useful  to  mankind,  than 
was  ever  won  by  conqueror  on  the  field  of  battle. 

"May  the  Atlantic  Telegraph,  under  the  blessing  of  Heaven,  prove  to  be 
a  bond  of  perpetual  peace  and  friendship  between  the  kindred  nations,  and 
an  instrument  destined  by  Divine  Providence  to  diffuse  religion,  civilization, 
liberty  and  law  throughout  the  world.  In  this  view  will  not  all  nations  of 
Christendom  spontaneously  unite  in  the  declaration  that  it  shall  be  forever 
neutral,  and  that  its  communications  shall  be  held  sacred  in  passing  to  their 
places  of  destination,  even  in  the  midst  of  hostilities? 

(Signed)  "JAMES  BUCHANAN/' 

Great  rejoicing  on  both  sides  of  the  ocean  followed,  and  the  public 
print  was  filled  with  accounts  of  the  enterprise.  The  following  selection 
from  the  Atlantic  Monthly  of  October,  1858,  is  an  apostrophe  in  lofty  sen- 
timents of  verse,  which  to-day  stirs  the  Twentieth  Century  heart  as  a  joy- 
ous prophecy  fulfilled : 

Thou  lonely  Bay  of  Trinity, 

Ye  bosky  shores  untrod, 
Lean,  breathless,  to  the  white-lipped  sea 
And  hear  the  voice  of  God ! 

From  world  to  world  His  couriers  fly, 

Thought-winged  and  shod  with  fire; 
The  angel  of  His  stormy  sky 

Rides  down  the  sunken  wire. 

What  saith  the  herald  of  the  Lord? 

"The  world's  long  strife  is  done ! 
Close  wedded  by  that  mystic  cord, 

Her  continents  are  one. 

"And  one  in  heart,  as  one  in  blood, 

Shall  all  her  peoples  be ; 
The  hands  of  human  brotherhood 

Shall  clasp  beneath  the  sea. 

"Through   Orient   seas,   o'er  Afric's  plain, 

And  Asian  mountains  borne, 
The  vigor  of  the  Northern  brain 

Shall  nerve  the  world  outworn. 

"From  clime  to  clime,  from  shore  to  shore, 

Shall  thrill  the  magic  thread; 
The  new  Prometheus  steals  once  more 

The  fire  that  wakes  the  dead. 

"Earth,  gray  with  age,  shall  hear  the  strain 

Which  o'er  her  childhood  rolled ; 
For  her  the  morning  stars  again 

Shall  sing  their  song  of  old. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  35 

"For,  lo!  the  fall  of  Ocean's  wall, 

Space  mocked  and  Time  outrun ! 
And  round  the  world  the  thought  of  all 

Is  as  the  thought  of  one!" 

O,  reverently  and  thankfully 

The  mighty  wonder  own! 
The  deaf  can  hear,  the  blind  may  see, 

The  work  is  God's  alone. 

Throb  on,  strong  pulse  of  thunder !  beat 

From  answering  beach  to  beach ! 
Fuse  nations  in  thy  kindly  heat, 

And  melt  the  chains  of  each ! 

Wild  terror  of  the  sky  above. 

Glide  tamed  and  dumb  below ! 
Bear  gently,  Ocean's  carrier  dove, 

Thy  errands  to  and  fro ! 

Weave  on,  swift  shuttle  of  the  Lord, 

Beneath  the  deep  so  far, 
The  bridal  robe  of  Earth's  accord, 

The  funeral  shroud  of  war ! 

The  poles  unite,  the  zones  agree, 

The  tongues  of  striving  cease; 
As  on  the  Sea  of  Gallilee, 

The  Christ  is  whispering,  "Peace !" 

After  a  few  months  of  working,  the  cable  became  inoperative,  but  its 
success  was  a  demonstrated  fact,  and  in  1866  a  new  cable  was  laid  by  the 
aid  of  that  monster  steamer  "The  Great  Eastern,"  since  which  time  the 
cable  has  become  one  of  the  great  factors  of  modern  civilization. 

Probably  the  most  important  of  the  inventions  relating  to  submarine 
telegraphs  is  the  siphon  recorder,  invented  by  Sir  William  Thompson, 
now  Lord  Kelvin  (U.  S.  Pat.  No.  156,897,  Nov.  17,  1874).  It  is  called  a 
siphon  recorder  because  the  record  is  made  by  a  little  glass  siphon  down 
which  a  flow  of  ink  is  maintained  like  a  fountain  pen.  This  siphon  is 
vibrated  by  the  electric  impulses  to  produce  on  the  paper  strip  a  zigzag 
line,  whose  varying  contour  is  made  to  represent  letters.  In  the  illustra- 
tion, Fig.  15,  m  is  an  ink  well,  o  a  strip  of  paper,  and  n  the  ink  siphon,  one 
end  of  which  is  bent  and  dips  down  into  the  ink  well,  and  the  other  end  of 
which  traces  the  record  on  the  moving  paper  strip  o.  The  siphon  is  sus- 
tained on  a  vertical  axis  /,  and  its  lateral  vibration  is  effected  as  follows : 
A  light  rectangular  coil  b  b,  of  exceedingly  fine  insulated  wire,  is  sus- 
pended between  the  poles  N  S  of  a  powerful  electro-magnet  energized  by 


3b 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


a  local  battery.  In  the  coil  b  b  is  a  stationary  soft  iron  core  a,  magnetized 
by  the  poles  N  S.  The  coil  b  b  is  suspended  upon  a  vertical  axis  consist- 
ing of  a  fine  wire  /  /,  and  the  delicate  electrical  impulses  over  the  subma- 


FIG.    15. — SIPHON   RECORDER. 

rine  cable  enter  the  coil  b  b  through  the  axial  wire  f  f  as  a  conductor,  and 
cause  a  greater  or  less  oscillation  of  the  coil  b  b  between  the  poles  N  S  of 
the  electro-magnet.  The  coil  b  b  is  connected  by  a  thread  k  to  the  siphon, 
and  pulls  the  siphon  in  one  direction,  while  the  siphon  is  pulled  in  the 
opposite  direction  by  a  helical  spring  attached  to  an  arm  on  the  siphon 


&     i 


F          H  ON  R     E     C         O          R       D        E     R 

FIG.    l6. — SIPHON   RECORDER   MESSAGE. 


axis  /.  The  jagged  lines  seen  in  Fig.  16  spell  the  words  "siphon  recorder." 
To-day  there  lie  in  submerged  silence,  but  pulsating  with  the  life  of 
the  world,  no  less  than  1,50x3  submarine  telegraphs.  Their  aggregate 
length  is  170,000  miles;  their  total  estimated  cost  is  $250,000,000,  and  the 
number  of  messages  annually  transmitted  over  them  is  6,000,000.  Thir- 
teen cables  work  daily  across  the  Atlantic,  and  an  additional  one  is  being 
laid  from  Germany.  Messages  now  go  across  the  Atlantic  and  are  re- 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  37 

ceived  on  the  siphon  recorder  at  the  rate  of  fifty  words  a  minute,  and  at  a 
cost  of  twenty-five  cents  a  word.  Our  guns  may  thunder  in  the  Philip- 
pines, and  the  news  by  cable,  traveling  faster  than  the  earth  on  its  axis, 
may  reach  the  Western  Hemisphere  under  the  paradoxical  condition  of 
several  hours  earlier  than  it  occurred.  Cablegrams  to  Manila  cost  $2.38  a 
word,  and  the  cable  tolls  for  our  War  Department  alone  are  costing  at  the 
rate  of  $325,000  a  year.  The  logical  outcome  is  a  Pacific  cable,  a  bill  for 
which,  connecting  San  Francisco  and  Honolulu,  has  already  passed  the 
United  States  Senate. 

Messages  from  the  Executive  Mansion  at  Washington  to  the  battle- 
field at  Santiago  were  sent  and  responses  received  within  twelve  minutes, 
while  a  message  dispatched  from  the  House  of  Representatives  in  Wash- 
ington to  the  House  of  Parliament  in  London,  in  the  chess  match  of  1898, 
was  transmitted  and  a  reply  received  in  thirteen  and  one-half  seconds. 

To-day  the  cable  with  the  still  small  voice,  more  divine  than  human, 
speaks  with  one  accent  to  all  the  nations  of  the  earth.  Differing  though 
they  may  in  tongue  and  skin,  in  thought  and  religion,  in  physical  develop- 
ment and  clime,  the  telegraph  speaks  to  them  all  alike,  and  by  all  is  under- 
stood. Truly  it  fulfils  the  prophecy  so  gracefully  expressed  in  the  verses 
quoted,  and  has  become  the  common  bond  of  union  among  the  nations  of 
the  earth. 


38  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


CHAPTER   V. 

THE  DYNAMO  AND  ITS  APPLICATIONS. 

OBSERVATIONS  OF  FARADAY  AND  HENRY — MAGNETO-ELECTRIC  MACHINES  OF  PIXII  AND 
OF  SAXTON — HJORTH'S  DYNAMO  OF  1855 — WILDE'S  MACHINE  OF  1866 — SIEMENS' 
OF  1867— GRAMME'S  OF  1870 — TESLA'S  POLYPHASE  CURRENTS. 

IN  the  last  thirty-five  years  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  there  has  grown 
up  into  the  full  stature  of  mechanical  majority  this  stalwart  son  of 
electrical  lineage.  As  the  means  for  furnishing  electrical  power  it 
stands  to-day  the  great  fountain  head  of  electrical  generation,  and  in 
its  peculiar  field  ranks  as  of  equal  importance  with  the  steam  engine.  Un- 
til about  1865  the  voltaic  battery,  which  generated  electricity  by  chemical 
decomposition,  was  practically  the  only  means  for  producing  electricity 
for  industrial  and  commercial  purposes.  It  was  through  its  agency  that 
the  telegraph,  the  electric  light,  and  many  other  discoveries  in  electricity 
were  made  and  rendered  possible.  Its  cost  and  limited  amount  of  current, 
however,  restricted  the  limits  of  its  practical  application,  and  although  its 
current  could  furnish  beautiful  laboratory  experiments,  its  mechanical 
work  was  more  in  the  nature  of  illustration  than  utilization.  But  with  the 
advent  of  the  dynamo  electricity  has  taken  a  new  and  very  much  larger 
place  in  the  commercial  activities  of  the  world.  It  runs  and  warms  our 
cars,  it  furnishes  our  light,  it  plates  our  metals,  it  runs  our  elevators,  it 
electrocutes  our  criminals ;  and  a  thousand  other  things  it  performs  for  us 
with  secrecy  and  dispatch  in  its  silent  and  forceful  way.  But  what  is  a 
dynamo?  To  the  average  mind  the  most  satisfactory  answer  would  be — 
that  it  is  simply  a  machine  which  converts  mechanical  power  into  elec- 
tricity. Attach  a  dynamo  to  a  steam  engine,  and  the  power  of  the  steam 
engine  will,  through  the  dynamo,  become  transformed  or  converted  into  a 
powerful  electric  current.  Any  other  source  of  mechanical  power,  such  as 
a  water  wheel,  gas  engine,  wind  wheel,  or  even  a  horse  or  man,  will  serve 
to  operate  the  dynamo ;  its  primary  and  sole  function  being  to  take  power 
and  convert  it  into  electricity. 

The  stepping  stone  to  the  dynamo  in  its  development  was  the  magneto- 
electrical  machine.  This  is  a  machine  founded  upon  the  general  principle 
observed  by  Faraday  in  1831  and  1832,  and  also  by  Prof.  Henry  about  the 
same  time,  that  when  a  magnet  is  made  to  approach  a  helix  of  insulated 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


39 


wire  it  causes  a  current  of  electricity  to  flow  in  the  helix  as  long  as  the 
magnet  advances.  If  the  magnet  is  passed  through  the  helix,  the  current 
is  reversed  as  soon  as  the  magnet  passes  the  middle  point.  The  principle 
is  the  same  if  the  magnet  be  made  to  approach  and  recede  from  the  poles 
of  an  electro-magnet  having  a  helix  wound  around  a  soft  iron  core.  Like- 
wise the  same  result  occurs  if  the  electro-magnet  with  its  helix  is  made  to 
approach  and  recede  from  a  permanent  magnet,  the  current  in  the  helix 
flowing  in  one  direction  when  it  approaches  the  permanent  magnet,  and  in 
the  opposite  direction  when  leaving  the  said  magnet.  The  movement  of 
the  two  elements  in  relation  to  each  other  requires  some  force  to  overcome 
the  repellent  and  attractive  actions,  and  this  force  is  converted  into  elec- 
trical energy.  This  is  the  principle  of  the  magneto-electric  machine. 

Saxton  in  the  United  States  and  Pixii  in  France  were  the  first  to  pro- 
duce organized  devices  of  this  class  for  generating  electricity  from  mag- 
netism. Pixii's  machine  (1832)  consisted  of  a  permanent  horse-shoe 
magnet  which  was  caused 
to  revolve  in  proximity  to 
an  armature  upon  which 
was  wound  a  coil  of  insu- 
lated wire.  On  March  30, 
1852,  Somnenberg  and 
Rechten  obtained  a  United 
States  patent,  No.  8,843, 
for  an  electrical  machine 
for  killing  whales,  and  on 
August  19,  1856,  Shepard 
obtained  U.  S.  Pat.  No.  15,- 
596  for  the  machine  which 
came  to  be  known  as  the 
"Alliance"  machine.  Both 
of  these  machines  had  per- 
manent field  magnets,  and 
were  early  types  of  mag- 
neto-electric machines.  The 
efficiency  of  these  magneto- 
electric  machines  was  nec- 
essarily limited  to  the  FIG'  I7'-pIxn  MAGNETO-ELECTRIC  MACHINE,  1832. 
strength  of  the  inducing  field  magnets,  which,  being  permanent  magnets. 
were  a  positive  and  fixed  factor.  It  was  an  easy  step  to  substitute  electro- 
magnets for  permanent  magnets,  as  the  field  or  inducing  magnets,  and  also 


40 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


to  excite  the  (electro)  field  magnet  by  voltaic  batteries,  but  the  important 
step  which  resulted  in  the  machine  which  is  called  the  "dynamo"  (from  the 
Greek  "  Awaits  " — power)  was  yet  to  come. 

This  step  con- 
sisted in  taking  the 
current  induced  in 
the  revolving  helix 
or  armature  (by  the 
field  magnets)  and 
sending  it  back 
through  the  coils  of 
the  field  magnets 
which  produced  it, 
thereby  increasing 
the  energy  of  the 
field  magnet  coils, 
and  they  in  turn 
with  an  increased 
efficiency  and  recip- 
rocal action  induce 
FIG.  18.— HJORTH'S  DYNAMO  ELECTRIC  MACHINE.  still  stronger  cur- 


rents in  the  arma- 
ture coils,  and  so  a 
building  up  process, 
or  principle  of  mu- 
tual and  reciprocal 
excitation,  is  carried 
on  until  the  maxi- 
mum efficiency  is 
reached.  This  prin- 
ciple was  the  discov- 
ery of  Soren  Hjorth, 
of  Copenhagen,  and 
is  fully  described  in 
his  British  patent, 
"No.  806  of  1855,  for 
"An  Improved  Mag- 
neto-Electric Bat- 
tery." As  the  proto- 


FIG.  19. — HJORTH'S  DYNAMO  ELECTRIC  MACHINE, 
PLAN  VIEW. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  41 

type  of  the  dynamo,  it  is  worthy  of  illustration.  In  the  illustra- 
tion, Figs.  18  and  19,  a  is  a  revolving  wheel  bearing  the  arma- 
ture coils,  C  permanent  magnets,  d  electro-magnets  (field  magnets),  and 
g  the  commutator.  Quoting  from  his  specifications,  he  says :  "The  perma- 
nent magnets  acting  on  the  armatures  brought  in  succession  between  their 
poles,  induce  a  current  in  the  coils  of  the  armatures,  which  current,  after 
having  been  caused  by  the  commutator  to  flow  in  one  direction,  passes 
round  the  electro-magnets  (field  magnets),  charging  the  same  and  acting 
on  the  armatures.  By  the  mutual  action  between  the  electro-magnets  and 
the  armatures  an  accelerating  force  is  obtained,  which  in  result  produces 
electricity  greater  in  quantity  and  intensity  than  has  heretofore  been  ob- 
tained by  similar  means." 

Although  the  principle  of  the  dynamo  was  clearly  embodied  in  the 
Hjorth  patent,  its  value  was  not  appreciated  until  some  time  later.  Eleven 
years  later  Wilde  (U.  S.  Pat.  No.  59,738,  Nov.  13,  1866),  employed  a 
small  machine  with  permanent  magnets  to  excite  the  coil-wound  field  mag- 
nets of  a  larger  machine.  But  Siemens  (British  Pat.  No.  261  of  1867), 
taking  up  the  principle  employed  by  Hjorth,  dispensed  with  his  superflu- 
ous permanent  magnets,  having  found  that  the  residual  magnetism,  whicn 
always  remained  in  iron  which  has  once  been  magnetized,  was  sufficient  as 
a  basis  to  start  the  building  up  process.  Farmer,  Wheatstone  and  Varley 
also  recognized  this  fact  about  the  same  time.  Siemens'  patent  also  was 
the  first  embodiment  of  what  is  known  as  the  bobbin  armature.  Gramme 
and  D'lvernois  (British  Pat.  1,668  of  1870,  and  U.  S.  Pat.  No.  120,057,  of 
Oct.  17,  1871),  were  the  first  to  bring  out  the  continuously  wound  ring 
armature. 

Active  development  now  began  in  various  types  and  by  various  invent- 
ors, including  Weston,  Brush,  Edison,  Thomson  and  Houston,  Westing- 
house,  and  other,  who  have  brought  the  dynamo  to  its  present  high  effi- 
ciency. 

The  revolving  coils  of  the  dynamo  are  called  the  armature,  and  the 
fixed  electro-magnets  are  called  the  field  magnets,  and  these  latter  may  be 
two  or  more  in  number.  When  two  are  used  they  are  arranged  on  oppo- 
site sides  of  the  armature,  and  form  what  is  known  as  the  bipolar  machine. 
A  larger  number  constitutes  the  multipolar  machine.  The  field  magnets  in 
the  multipolar  machine  usually  are  arranged  in  radial  position  around  the 
entire  circumference  of  the  revolving  armature,  and  are  held  in  a  fixed 
circular  frame.  To  give  a  clear  idea  of  the  principles  of  the  dynamo,  the 
bipolar  machine  is  best  suited  for  illustration,  and  is  here  given  in  Figs. 
20  and  21,  in  which  Fig.  20  represents  the  dynamo  complete,  and  Fig.  21 


42 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


a  detail  of  the  end  of 
the  armature  and 
commutator.  This 
armature  consists  of 
coils  or  bobbins  of  in- 
sulated wire,  each  sec- 
tion having  its  ter- 
minals connected  with 
separate  insulated 
plates  on  the  hub, 
which  plates  are 
known  as  the  com- 
mutator. When  any 
section  of  the  arma- 
ture approaches  the 
pole  of  a  field  mag- 
net, the  current  in- 
duced in  that  section 
of  the  armature  coils 
by  the  field  magnet, 
is  taken  off  from  a 
corresponding  plate 
of  the  commutator  by 
flat  springs,  seen  in 
Fig.  20,  and  known  as 
brushes.  The  field  magnets  A  and  B,  Fig.  20,  are  shown  with  only  a  few 
turns  of  wire  about  them  for  clearer  illustrations  of  the  connections,  which 
are  made  as  follows:  The  wire  a  is  extended  in  coils  around  the 
field  magnet  B,  and  thence  around  field  magnet  A,  and  thence 
to  the  upper  brush  on  the  commutator,  thence  through  the  wire  coils  or 
bobbins  of  the  rotary  armature  C,  and  thence  by  the  lower  brush  to  the 
wire  b.  The  terminals  of  the  wires  a  and  b  extend  to  the  point  of  utiliza- 
tion of  the  current,  whether  this  be  electric  lights,  motors,  or  other  applica- 
tions. In  this  illustration,  the  circuit,  it  will  be  seen,  passes  through  both 
the  coils  of  the  field  magnets  and  the  coils  of  the  armature,  involving  the 
principle  of  mutual  excitation. 

There  are  two  principal  kinds  of  dynamos — those  producing  the  alter- 
nating currents,  and  those  producing  the  continuous  current.  In  the  first 
the  current  alternates  in  direction,  or  is  composed  of  an  infinite  number  of 
impulses  of  opposite  polarity ;  one  polarity  when  a  section  of  the  armature 


FIG.   2O. — BIPOLAR  DYNAMO. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


43 


coil  is  approaching  a  north  field  magnet  pole  or  receding  from  a  south  pole, 
and  the  other  polarity  when  receding  from  a  north  field  magnet  pole  and 
approaching  a  south  pole.  In  the  continuous  current  machine,  the  com- 
mutator and  brushes  are  so 
arranged  as  to  take  up  all 
the  impulses  of  the  same 
polarity  and  conduct  them 
away  by  one  brush,  and 
gathering  all  the  impulses 
of  the  opposite  polarity  and 
conducting  them  away  by 
another  brush.,  Thus  the 
current  of  each  brush,  in 
the  continuous  current  ma- 
chine, is  always  of  the 
same  polarity,  and  t  he- 
polarity  of  one  being  al- 
ways positive,  and  that  of 
the  other  negative,  the  cur- 
rent flows  continuously  in 
the  same  direction.  A 
third  species  of  dynamo  is 

the  pulsatory,  in  which  the  current  flow  is  invariable  in  direction,  but  pro- 
ceeds in  waves. 

A  change  in  the  character  of  the  current  generated  by  the  dynamo'  is 
made  by  what  is  known  as  the  "transformer,"  in  which  the  principle  of  the 
induction  coil  is  made  available.  In  this  way,  for  instance,  the  high  poten- 
tial currents  generated  by  the  powerful  water  wheels  at  Niagara  Falls  are 
taken  twenty  miles  to  Buffalo,  and  are  there  transformed  into  other  cur- 
rents of  lower  potential,  suited  to  incandescent  lighting  and  other  various 
uses.  A  similar  scheme  is  in  process  of  fulfillment  in  the  establishment  of 
a  water  power  electric  plant  near  Conowingo,  Maryland,  on  the  Susque- 
hanna  River,  to  furnish  electrical  power  to  Baltimore,  Wilmington  and 
Philadelphia. 

An  important  development  in  electrical  generation  and  transmission  is 
to  be  found  in  what  is  known  as  the  polyphase,  multiphase,  or  rotating  cur- 
rent, pioneer  patents  for  which  were  granted  to  Tesla  May  i,  1888,  Nos. 
381,968,  381,969,  382,279,  382,280,  382,281  and  382,282. 

Realizing  the  possibilities  of  the  dynamo,  the  Legislature  of  New  York 
in  1888  passed  a  law,  which  went  into  effect  in  1889,  in  that  State,  substi- 


FIG.   21. — ARMATURE  OF  BIPOLAR   DYNAMO. 


44 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


tuting  death  by  electricity  for  the  hangman's  noose.  The  criminal  is  strap- 
ped in  the  chair,  seen  in  Fig.  22,  one  terminal  of  the  wire  from  the  dynamo 
is  strapped  upon  his  forehead,  and  the  other  to  anklets  on  his  legs,  and  like 
a  flash  of  lightning  the  deadly  energy  of  the  dynamo  performs  its  work.  . 
Not  the  least  of  the  applications  of  the  dynamo  is  its  use  in  electro-met- 
allurgy for  plating 
metals,  and  also  for 
promoting  chemical 
reactions.  The  elec- 
tric furnace,  stimula- 
ted into  higher  heat 
by  the  dynamo  than 
can  be  otherwise  ob- 
tained, has  brought 
about  many  valuable 
discoveries,  and  made 
great  advances  in  va- 
rious arts.  The  metal 
aluminum,  and  the 
hard  abrasive  or  pol- 
ishing and  grinding 
material  known  as 
"carborundum"  are 
the  products  of  the 
electric  furnace,  and 
so  is  the  product 
known  as  "calcium 
carbide,"  which,  when 
immersed  in  water, 
gives  off  acetylene  gas 
and  is  a  product  now 
universally  used  for 
that  purpose,  and  rap- 
idly increasing  in  com- 
mercial importance. 

In  Fig.  23  is  seen  the  Acheson  electric  furnace  for  producing  carborun- 
dum. The  electric  current  traverses  the  furnace  through  a  series  of  hori- 
zontal electrodes  at  each  end,  and  highly  heats  a  central  core  of  carbon, 
which  is  disposed  in  a  mass  of  silicious  and  carbonaceous  material,  and 
which  latter  is  converted  bv  the  heat  into  silicide  of  carbon,  or  carborun- 


FIG.   22. ELECTROCUTION    CHAIR. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


45 


clum.  In  Fig.  24  is  shown  a  continuous  electric  furnace  constructed  as  a 
revolving  wheel,  under  the  Bradley  patents.  Rim  sections  5  are  placed  on 
the  wheel  on  one  side  and  filled  with  a  mixture  of  carbon  and  lime,  through 
which  the  electric  current  is  passed  from  the  dynamo  g.  The  heat  of  the 
current  fuses  the  mass  and  converts  it  into  calcium  carbide,  and  as  the 
wheel  slowly  revolves  the  rim  sections  5  are  removed  from  the  opposite 
side,  and  the  mass  of  calcium  carbide,  seen  at  x,  is  broken  off.  The  elec- 
trolytic production  of  copper  through  the  agency  of  the  dynamo  amounts 
to  150,000  tons  annually,  and  the  commercial  reduction  of  aluminum  by 
the  electric  furnace  has  grown  from  eighty-three  pounds  in  1883  to  5,200,- 


FIG.   23. — PART   SECTIONAL  VIEW  OF    CARBORUNDUM  FURNACE. 


ooo  pounds  in  1898,  and  its  cost  has  been  reduced  to  about  33  cents  per 
pound. 

The  storage  battery,  holding  in  reserve  its  stored  up  electric  energy, 
also  owes  its  practical  value  entirely  to  the  dynamo  which  charges  it,  and 
thus  makes  available  a  portable  source  of  supply. 

To  contemplate  the  dynamo  with  its  clumsy,  enormous  spools,  it  sug- 
gests to  the  imagination  of  the  average  observer  the  gigantic  toy  of  some 
Brobdingnagian  boy — but  the  dynamo  is  no  toy.  It  is  the  most  compact, 
business-like,  and  dangerous  of  all  utilitarian  devices.  To  touch  its  brushes 
may  be  instant  death,  for  the  dynamo  is  the  prison  house  of  the  lightning, 
and  resents  intrusion.  Hidden  away  from  public  gaze  in  some  seques- 
tered power  house,  and  working  night  and  day  like  some  tireless,  dumb, 


4b 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


FIG.    24.— BRADLEY    ELECTRIC    FURNACE    FOR    PRODUCING    CALCIUM    CARBIDE. 

and  mighty  genii,  it  sends  its  magnetic  thrills  of  force  silently  through  the 
many  miles  of  wire  extending  like  radii  from  some  great  nerve  center 
through  the  conduits  in  our  streets,  and  stretching  from  pole  to  pole  like 
giant  cobwebs  through  the  air.  Responding  to  its  force,  thousands  of  lit- 
tle incandescent  threads  leap  into  radiant  brightness  and  shed  their  mellow 
and  genial  light  in  our  offices,  our  stores,  hotels,  and  homes.  Brilliant 
arc  lamps,  rivaling  the  sun  in  power,  make  night  into  day,  and  produce 


/7V  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  47 

along  our  streets  corruscations,  silliouettes,  and  dancing  shadows  in  spec- 
tacular and  unceasing  pageants.  From  the  towering  lighthouses  of  our 
coasts  its  beams  are  thrown  seaward,  and  a  beacon  for  the  mariner  shines 
beyond  all  other  lights.  The  great  search  light  of  our  ships  is  in  itself  but 
a  hollow  mockery  until  the  dynamo  whispers  in  its  ear  the  word  "light !" 
and  then  its  beam,  reaching  for  miles  along  the  horizon,  discovers  a 
stealthy  enemy,  or  signals  the  safe  return  to  port.  The  mighty  force  of 


FIG.   25. — MODERN    MULTIPOLAR  DYNAMO. 

the  dynamo  entering  the  electric  motors  on  the  street  cars  turns  the  wheels 
and  transports  its  load  with  scarcely  a  passenger  inside  realizing  how  it  is 
all  done.  The  same  energy  turns  the  electric  fan,  and  with  kindly  service 
soothes  the  weary  sufferer,  and  at  another  place  remorselessly  takes  the 
life  of  the  condemned  criminal.  The  dynamo  is  one  of  the  great  factors  of 
modern  civilization,  and  its  potential  name,  like  that  of  "dynamite,"  rightly 
defines  its  character. 


48 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


CHAPTER   VI. 
THE  ELECTRIC  MOTOR. 

BARLOW'S  SPUR  WHEEL — DAL  NEGRO'S  ELECTRIC  PENDULUM — PROF.  HENRY'S  ELEC- 
TRIC MOTOR— JACOBI'S  ELECTRIC  BOAT — DAVENPORT'S  MOTOR — THE  NEFF  MOTOR 
— DR.  PAGE'S  ELECTRIC  LOCOMOTIVE — DR.  SIEMENS'  FIRST  ELECTRIC  RAILWAY  AT 
BERLIN,  1879 — FIRST  ELECTRIC  RAILWAY  IN  UNITED  STATES,  BETWEEN  BALTI- 
MORE AND  HAMPDEN,  1885— THIRD  RAIL  SYSTEM — STATISTICS  ELECTRIC  RAIL- 
WAYS AND  GENERAL  ELECTRIC  Co. — DISTRIBUTION  ELECTRIC  CURRENT  IN  PRINCI- 
PAL CITIES. 

A '.THOUGH  the  electric  motor  of  to-day  depends  for  practical  value 
entirely  upon  the  dynamo  which  supplies  it  with  electric  power, 
nevertheless  the  motor  considerably  antedated  the  dynamo.     The 
genesis  of  the  electric  motor  began  in  1821  with  Faraday's  obser- 
vation of  the  phenomenon  of  the  conversion  of  an  electric  current  into 
mechanical  motion.     In  his  experiment  a  copper  wire  was  supported  in  a 
vertical  position  so  as  to  dip  into  a  cup  of  mercury,  while  a  small  bar  mag- 
net  was   anchored  at  one  end  by  a  thread  to  the   bottom   of  the  cup   and 
floated  in  the  mercury  in  upright  position.     The  mass  of  mercury  being 
connected  to  one  pole  of  a  battery,  and  the  vertical  wire  to  the  other,  it  was 
found  that  when  the  circuit  was  completed  by  clipping  the  wire  into  the 
mercury,  the  floating  bar  magnet  would  revolve  around  the  wire  as  a  cen- 
ter. 

In  1826  Barlow,  of  Woolwich,  made 
his  electrical  spur  wheel,  Fig.  26,  and  in 
1830  the  Abbe  Dal  Negro,  in  Padua,  is 
said  to  have  constructed  a  sort  of  vibra- 
ting electrical  pendulum,  both  of  which 
devices  were  crude  forms  of  magnetic 
engines.  Dal  Negro's  machine,  see  Fig. 
27,  consisted  of  a  magnet  A,  movable 
about  an  axis  situated  about  one-third  of 
its  length,  and  the  upper  extremity  of 
which  was  capable  of  oscillating  between 
the  two  branches  of  an  electro-magnet  E. 
A  current  being  sent  into  the  electro- 
magnet, passed  through  an  eight-cupped  mercurial  commutator  C,  which 


FIG.  26. — BARLOW'S  WHEEL. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CEXTURY.  49 

the  oscillating  magnet  controlled  by  means  of  a  rod  /  and  a  fork  F. 
When  the  magnet  had  been  attracted  toward  one  of  the  poles  of  the  elec- 
tro-magnet this  very  motion  of  attraction  acting  upon  the  commutator 
changed  the  direction  of  the  current,  and  the  magnet  was  repelled  toward 
the  other  branch  of  the  electro-magnet,  and  so  on. 


FIG.  27. — DAL  NEGRO  S  ELECTRIC  MOTOR. 

In  1828  Prof.  Joseph  Henry  produced  his  energetic  electro-magnets 
sustaining  weights  of  some  thousands  of  pounds,  and  gave  prophetic  sug- 
gestion of  the  possibilities  of  electricity  as  a  motive  power.  In  1831  he 
devised  the  electric  motor  shown  in  Fig.  28,  which  is  described  in  Prof. 
Henry's  own  words  as  follows : 

"A  B  is  the  horizontal  magnet,  about  seven  inches  long,  and  movable 
on  an  axis  at  the  center;  its  two  extremities  when  placed  in  a  horizontal 


50  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

line  are  about  one  inch  from  the  north  poles  of  the  upright  magnets  C  and 
D.  G  and  F  are  two  large  tumblers  containing  diluted  acid,  in  each  of 
which  is  immersed  a  plate  of  zinc  surrounded  with  copper;  /  m  s  t  are 
four  brass  thimbles  soldered  to  the  zinc  and  copper  of  the  batteries  and 
filled  with  mercury. 

"The  galvanic  magnet  A  B  is  wound  with  three  strands  of  copper  bell 
wire,  each  about  twenty-five  feet  long ;  the  similar  ends  of  these  are  twisted 
together  so  as  to  form  two  stiff  wires  q  r,  which  project  beyond  the  ex- 
tremity B,  and  clip  into  the  thimbles  s  t. 

"To  the  wires  q  r  two  other  wires  are  soldered  so  as  to  project  in  an 
opposite  direction,  and  dip  into  the  thimbles  /  m.  The  wires  of  the  gal- 


FIG.  28. — PROF.  HENRY'S  ELECTRIC  MOTOR. 

vanic  magnet  have  thus,  as  it  were,  four  projecting  ends ;  and  by  inspect- 
ing the  figure  it  will  be  seen  that  the  extremity  p,  which  dips  into  the  cup 
m,  attached  to  the  copper  of  the  battery  in  G,  corresponds  to  the  extremity 
r  which  dips  into  the  cup  t,  connecting,  with  the  zinc  in  battery  F.  When 
the  batteries  are  in  action,  if  the  end  B  is  depressed  until  q  r  dips  into  the 
cups  s  t,  A  B  instantly  becomes  a  powerful  magnet,  having  its  north  pole 
at  B  ;  this,  of  course,  is  repelled  by  the  north  pole  D,  while  at  the  same  time 
it  is  attracted  by  C ;  the  position  is  consequently  changed,  and  o  p  comes  in 
contact  with  the  mercury  in  /  m;  as  soon  as  the  communication  is  formed, 
the  poles  are  reversed,  and  the  position  again  changed.  If  the  tumblers  be 
filled  with  strong  diluted  acid,  the  motion  is  at  first  very  rapid  and  power- 
ful, but  it  soon  almost  entirely  ceases.  By  partially  filling  the  tumblers 
with  weak  acid,  and  occasionally  adding  a  small  quantity  of  fresh  acid,  a 
uniform  motion,  at  the  rate  of  seventy-five  vibrations  in  a  minute,  has  been 
kept  up  for  more  than  an  hour ;  with  a  large  battery  and  very  weak  acid 
the  motion  might  be  continued  for  an  indefinite  length  of  time." 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  51 

Following  Prof.  Henry  came  Sturgeon's  rotafy  motor  of  1832,  Jacobi's 
rotary  motor  of  1834,  Fig.  29,  which  had  electro-magnets  both  in  the  field 
and  armature ;  Davenport's  motor  of  1834,  Zabriskie's  motor  of  1837,  in 
which  a  vibrating  magnet  converted  reciprocating  into  rotary  motion; 
Davenport's  motor  of  1837  (U.  S.  Pat.  No.  132,  Feb.  25,  1837),  Fig.  30; 
Page's  rotary  motor  of  1838,  Walkley's  motor  of  1838  (U.  S.  Pat.  No. 
809,  June  27,  1838)  ;  Stimson's  motor  of  1838  (U.  S.  Pat.  No.  910,  Sept. 
12,  1838)  ;  Page's  motor  of  1839,  Cook's  of  1840  (U.  S.  Pat.  No.  1,735, 
Aug.  25,  1840)  ;  Elias'  motor  of  1842,  invented  in  Holland ;  Lillie's  motor 
of  1850  (U  S.  Pat.  No.  7,287,  April  16,  1850)  ;  the  Neff  motor  of  1851 
(U.  S.  Pat  No.  7,889,  Jan.  7,  1851),  of  which  illustration  is  given  in  Fig. 


FIG.  29. — JACOBI  S  ROTARY  ELECTRIC  MOTOR. 

31,  and  Page's  motor  of  1854  (U.  S.  Pat.  No.  10,480,  Jan.  31,  1854).  In 
1835  Davenport  constructed  a  small  circular  railway  at  Springfield,  Mass. 

In  1839  Prof.  Jacobi,  with  the  aid  of  Emperor  Nicholas,  applied  his 
electric  motor  to  a  boat  28  feet  long,  carrying  fourteen  passengers,  and 
propelled  the  same  at  a  speed  of  three  miles  an  hour.  About  the  same  time 
Robert  Davidson,  a  Scotchman,  experimented  with  an  electric  railway  car 
sixteen  feet  long,  weighing  six  tons,  and  attaining  a  speed  of  four  miles  an 
hour.  In  1840  Davenport,  by  means  of  his  electric  motor,  printed  a  news 
sheet  called  the  Electro  Magnet  and  Mechanics'  Intelligencer.  In  1851  an 
electric  locomotive  made  by  Dr.  Page  in  accordance  with  his  subsequent 
patent  of  1854,  drew  a  train  of  cars  from  Washington  to  Badensburg  at  a 
rate  of  nineteen  miles  an  hour. 

All  these  motors  were  operated  by  voltaic  batteries,  and  on  account  of 
the  cost  of  the  latter  but  little  practical  use  of  the  electric  motor  was  made 


52 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


FIG.    31. — NEFF    MOTOR. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


53 


until  the  dynamo  was  invented.  In  1873  an  accidental  discovery  led  to  the 
rapid  practical  development  of  the  electric  motor.  It  is  said  that  at  the  in- 
dustrial exhibition  at  Vienna  in  that  year,  a  number  of  Gramme  dynamos 


54 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


were  being  placed  in  position,  and  a  workman  in  making  the  electrical  con- 
nections for  one  of  these  machines,  inadvertently  connected  it  to  another 


dynamo  in  active  operation,  and  was  surprised  to  find  that  the  dynamo  he 
was  connecting  began  to  revolve  in  the  opposite  direction.  This  was  the 
clue  that  led  to  the  important  recognition  of  the  structural  identity  of  the 


/Ar  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


55 


dynamo  and  the  modern  type  of  electric  motor.    The  dynamo  and  the  elec- 
tric motor  then  grew  into  development  together,  and  the  same  inventors 


who  brought  the  dynamo  to  its  present  high  efficiency,  produced  electric 
motors  of  corresponding  principles  and  value.    In  the  illustration,  Fig.  32, 


56  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

is  shown  a  modern  electric  motor.  It  is  a  Westinghouse  two-phase  ma- 
chine, of  300  horse  power,  of  the  self  starting  induction  type,  designed  to 
operate  at  a  speed  of  500  revolutions  per  minute  when  supplied  with  two- 
phase  currents  of  3,000  alternations  per  minute  and  2,000  volts  pressure. 

The  most  important  application  of  the  electric  motor  is  for  street  car 
operation.  The  first  electric  railway  was  that  of  Dr.  Werner  Siemens,  at 
Berlin,  in  1879,  an  illustration  of  which  is  given  in  Fig.  33.  The  first  elec- 
tric railway  in  America  was  installed  at  Baltimore  in  1885,  and  ran  to 
Hampden,  a  distance  of  two  miles. 


FIG.   35- — UNDERGROUND  ELECTRIC  TROLLEY  SYSTEM. 

The  familiar  overhead  trolley  cars,  and  the  far  superior  conduit  trolley 
system,  represent  perhaps  the  largest  use  made  of  electric  motors.  The 
motors  are  arranged  under  the  cars  in  varying  forms  adapted  to  the  struc- 
ture of  the  car.  In  the  overhead  trolley,  shown  in  Fig.  34,  the  current  is 
taken  from  the.  overhead  wire  by  a  flexible  trolley  pole,  and  in  the  conduit 
system  a  trolley  known  as  a  plow  extends  from  the  bottom  of  the  car 
through  a  narrow  slot  in  the  top  of  the  conduit  and  makes  a  traveling  con- 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  57 

tact  with  the  conductor  rails  within  the  conduit,  which  carry  the  electric 
current.  Fig.  35  is  an  end  view  of  a  street  car  of  the  latter  type,  with  the 
conduit  and  conductor  rails  in  cross  section.  The  current  goes  from  one 
rail  to^&ne  bearing  surface  of  the  plow,  thence  to  the  motor  on  the  car  and 
back  tb  the  other  bearing  surface  of  the  plow  and  the  other  conductor  rail 
in  the7 'conduit. 


FIG.   36. THIRD  RAIL  SYSTEM   ON  THE   N.    Y.,   N.    H. 

CAR. 


H.   RAILROAD FRONT   END  OF   MOTOR 


A  third  system,  which  has  supplanted  to  some  extent  the  use  of  steam 
on  short  line  railways,  is  the  so-called  third  rail  system,  of  which  an  exam- 
ple is  seen  in  Fig.  36.  A  third  conductor  rail  is  placed  between  the  usual 
track  rails,  and  from  this  conductor  the  current  is  taken  by  a  sliding  shoe 
on  the  car,  and  carried  to  the  motor  and  thence  through  the  car  wheels  to 
the  track  rails.  To  reduce  danger  from  the  live  rail,  the  third  rail  in  some 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INTENTION 


FIG.   37-— ELECTRIC  RAILWAY   MOTOR,  CLOSED. 


FIG.   38. — ELECTRIC  RAILWAY   MOTOR,  OPENED. 


IN  THE  XIXETEEXTH  CEXTl'RY.  59 

systems  is  made  in  sections,  and,  by  an  automatic  switching  process  as  the 
car  moves  along,  only  the  sections  of  the  rail  beneath  the  car  are  brought 
into  circuit,  all  other  portions  being  cut  out. 


The  use  of  electric  motors  has  greatly  extended,  cheapened,  and  expe- 
dited the  street  car  service.  All  the  principal  thoroughfares  of  cities  and 
even  towns  are  now  so  equipped,  and  radiating  suburban  lines  extend  for 


60  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

miles  from  the  city,  affording  for  five  cents  a  pleasant  and  cheap  excursion 
for  the  poor  to  the  green  fields  and  fresh  air  of  the  country. 

Figs.  37  and  38  show  an  electric  motor  used  on  street  cars,  as  made  by 
the  General  Electric  Company.  Externally  it  presents  the  appearance  of 
some  curious,  uncouth,  cast  iron  box,  which,  to  the  uninitiated,  piques  the 
curiosity,  and  when  opened  adds  no  explanation  of  its  real  character.  In 
it,  however,  the  electrician  finds  a  most  interesting  combination  of  metal 
and  magnetism. 

In  Fig.  39  is  shown  one  of  the  most  powerful  electric  locomotives  ever 
constructed.  It  was  built  in  1895  by  the  General  Electric  Company  for  the 
Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad,  to  draw  trains  through  the  long  tunnel  from 
the  Camden  Street  Station  in  Baltimore,  for  the  purpose  of  avoiding 
smoke  and  gas  in  the  tunnel,  which  is  7,339  feet  long.  The  locomotive 
weighs  ninety-six  tons,  or  twenty-five  tons  above  the  average  steam  loco- 
motive. It  was  designed  to  draw  100  trains  daily  each  way,  moving  pas- 
senger trains  of  a  maximum  weight  of  500  tons  at  thirty-five  miles  an 
hour,  and  freight  trains  of  1,200  tons  at  fifteen  miles  an  hour.  It  has  two 
trucks,  and  eight  drive  wheels  of  sixty-two  inches  diameter.  There  are 
four  motors,  two  to  each  truck,  each  rated  at  360  horse  power. 

Other  important  applications  of  the  electric  motor  are,  the  propelling 
of  automobile  carriages,  small  boats,  and  fish  torpedoes,  operating  steering 
gear  for  ships,  passenger  elevators,  rock  drills  in  mines,  running  printing 
presses,  fans,  sewing  machines,  graphophones,  and  in  all  applications 
where  space  is  .limited  and  cleanliness  a  desideratum. 

According  to  Mulhall  there  were  in  1890  in  the  United  States  and  Can- 
ada about  645  miles  of  street  railway  operated  by  electricity.  This  about 
concluded  the  first  decade  of  the  life  of  the  electric  railway.  Some  idea  of 
the  rapid  increase  in  this  field  may  be  had  by  the  statement  of  the  same  au- 
thority that  there  were  in  1890,  at  the  end  of  this  first  decade,  forty-five 
additional  electric  railroads  in  course  of  construction,  aggregating  512 
miles  of  way,  which  nearly  doubled  the  previous  existing  mileage. 

In  1898  it  was  estimated  that  there  were  in  the  United  States  14,000 
miles  of  electric  railroads,  with  a  nominal  capital  of  $1,000,000,000,  and 
employing  170,000  men.  In  the  same  year  a  single  electrical  contract  was 
entered  into  between  the  Third  Avenue  Railroad  and  the  Union  Railway 
Company  of  New  York,  acting  as  one,  and  the  Westinghouse  Electrical 
and  Manufacturing  Company,  amounting  to  $5,000,000.  This  was  for  the 
electrical  equipment  of  their  respective  railway  lines,  and  is  the  largest 
electrical  contract  ever  made.  The  change  in  equipment  from  other  mo- 
tive power  to  the  electric  is  rapidly  going  on  in  all  directions,  and  the  rapid 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  61 

succession  of  trains  will  doubtless  cause  it,  for  passenger  traffic  on  short 
lines,  to  eventually  supersede  steam. 

The  eighth  annual  report  of  the  General  Electric  Company  shows  for 
the  year  1899  orders  received  for  railway  and  other  electrical  equipment 
amounting  to  $26,323,626 ;  goods  shipped,  $22,379,463.75 ;  profit  on  same, 
$3,805,860.18.  The  growth  of  its  business  from  1893  to  1899  shows  the 
following  per  cent,  of  increase :  In  1893,  36  per  cent,  above  1892 ;  in  1894, 
126  per  cent,  above  1893  ;  in  1895,  10  per  cent,  above  1894 ;  in  1896,  60  per 
cent  above  1895;  in  1897,  60  per  cent,  above  1896;  in  1898,  21  per  cent, 
above  1897;  in  1899,  51  per  cent,  above  1898. 

The  capitalization  in  electrical  appliances  in  the  United  States  in  1898 
is  estimated  at  $1,900,000,000,  most  of  which  is  devoted  to  industries  in 
which  the  electric  motor  is  used.  The  export  of  electrical  apparatus  from 
this  country  amounts  to  more  than  three  million  dollars  annually,  and  it  is 
said  that  there  are  eight  times  as  many  electric  railways  in  the  United 
States  as  in  all  the  rest  of  the  world  combined. 

The  use  of  electrical  current  in  twelve  principal  cities  in  the  United 
States  was  distributed  in  1898  as  follows: 

Lamps,  arcs,  and  motors  in  sixteen  candle  power  equivalents. 


Boston   616,000      St.  Louis 303,000 

New  York 1,718,000      San  Francisco 231,000 

Chicago  1,278,000     Buffalo 125,000 

Brooklyn   322,000     Rochester 184,000 

Baltimore 224,000     Cincinnati    201,000 

Philadelphia    488,000     New  Orleans 81,000 

Boston  makes  the  largest  use  of  electrical  current  in  proportion  to  its 
population  of  any  city  in  the  world.  Rochester  is  next.  Both  of  these 
cities  employ  in  electrical  units  of  16  c.  p.  equivalents,  more  than  one  elec- 
tric lamp  for  every  man,  woman  and  child  in  their  respective  populations. 

The  dynamo  and  the  electric  motor  have  together  wrought  this  great 
development.  The  dynamo  takes  mechanical  power  and  converts  it  into 
electrical  energy,  and  the  electric  motor  takes  the  electrical  energy  and 
converts  it  back  into  mechanical  power.  Standing  behind  them  both,  how- 
ever, is  the  steam  engine,  and  these  three  afford  a  beautiful  illustration  of 
the  law  of  correlation  of  forces.  The  force  starts  with  the  combustion  of 
coal  under  the  boiler  of  the  steam  engine.  When  carbon  unites  chemically 
with  oxygen,  it  is  an  exothermic  reaction  that  gives  off  heat  as  correlated 
energy.  The  influence  of  heat  on  the  molecules  of  water  in  the  boiler 


62  THE  PROGRESS  OF  I N]' EN  T  ION 

caxtses  them,  by  repellent  action,  to  assume  the  qualities  of  an  elastic  gas, 
and  this  expanding  as  steam  drives  the  piston  of  the  steam  engine.  The 
steam  engine  overcomes  by  force  the  resistance  existing  between  the 
dynamo's  field  magnets  and  armature  coil,  and  sets  up  in  the  latter  the 
correlated  force  of  an  electric  current,  and  the  electric  current,  traveling 
to  its  remote  destination  by  suitable  conductors,  enters  the  coils  of  the 
electric  motor  in  reverse  relation  to  that  of  the  dynamo,  and  in  producing 
the  reverse  effect  between  the  armature  and  field  magnets,  electrical  en- 
ergy is  converted  back  into  mechanical  power.  It  is  not  possible  to  obtain 
in  the  electric  motor  the  full  equivalent  of  the  dynamo's  current,  nor  in 
the  dynamo  the  full  equivalent  of  the  steam  engine's  power,  nor  in  the 
steam  engine  the  full  equivalent  of  the  chemical  energy  in  the  combustion 
of  coal.  Loss  by  radiation,  by  conduction,  by  friction,  and  by  electrical 
resistance  precludes  this,  but  while  there  is  loss  in  a  utilitarian  sense  there 
is  no  real  loss,  for  force  like  matter,  is  indestructible,  and  the  proof  of 
this  universal  law  by  Joule,  in  1843,  constitutes  one  of  the  highest  tri- 
umphs of  philosophy  and  one  of  the  most  important  discoveries  of  the 
Nineteenth  Century. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  63 


CHAPTER   VII. 

THE  ELECTRIC  LIGHT. 

VOLTAIC  ARC  BY  SIR  HUMPHREY  DAVY — THE  JABLOCHKOFF  CANDLE — PATENTS  OF 
BRUSH,  WESTON  AND  OTHERS — SEARCH  LIGHTS— GROVE'S  FIRST  INCANDESCENT 
LAMP — STARR-KING  LAMP — MOSES  FARMER  LIGHTS  FIRST  DWELLING  WITH 
ELECTRIC  LAMPS — SAWYER-MAN  LAMP — EDISON'S  INCANDESCENT  LAMP — EDI- 
SON'S THREE-WIRE  SYSTEM  OF  CIRCUITS — STATISTICS. 

THE  popular  idea  of  the  electric  light  is,  that  it  is  a  very  recent  in- 
vention, since  even  the  younger  generation  remembers  when 
there  was  no  such  thing  in  general  use.  It  will  surprise  many 
readers,  then,  to  know  that  the  electric  light  had  its  birth  in  the 
first  decade  of  the  Nineteenth  Century.  In  1809  Sir  Humphrey  Davy  dis- 
covered that  when  two  pieces  of  charcoal,  which  formed  the  terminals  of  a 
powerful  voltaic  battery,  were  separated  after  having  been  brought  into 
contact  with  each  other,  at  the  moment  of  separation  a  brilliant  arc  of 
flame  passed  from  one  piece  of  charcoal  to  the  other,  producing  a  tempera- 
ture of  4,800°  F.,  and  that  the  intensity  of  the  light  exceeded  all  other 
known  forms  of  light.  Various  improvements  in  the  organization  of  de- 
vices were  made  for  holding  the  two  pieces  of  carbon,  which  in  time 
assumed  the  form  of  two  pencils  in  alignment,  as  in  Fig.  40,  and  devices 
were  provided  for  feeding  one  carbon  toward  the  other  as  they  burned 
away.  Clock  mechanism  for  thus  regulating  the  feed  was  first  employed, 
which  served  to  automatically  keep  the  carbons  a  definite  distance  apart, 
this  being  a  necessary  condition  of  the  arc.  For  many  years,  however,  the 
use  of  such  a  light  was  confined  to  laboratory  illustration,  for  the  reason 
that  it  could  only  be  produced  at  great  expense  by  a  large  number  of  vol- 
taic batteries.  Nevertheless  very  efficient  electric  lamps  working  by  vol- 
taic batteries  were  devised  by  Foucault,  Duboscq,  Deleuil  and  others  as 
early  as  1853.  With  the  advent  of  the  dynamo,  however,  the  electric  light 
grew  rapidly  and  developed  into  conspicuous  use.  Even  before  the  true 
dynamo  was  invented  the  magneto-electric  machine  was  employed  for  pro- 
ducing an  electric  current  to  supply  electric  light.  The  so-called  "Alli- 
ance" generator  was,  in  1858,  used  in  the  South  Foreland  lighthouse  in 
England  to  supply  the  arc  lamps,  and  the  beams  of  the  electric  light  then, 
for  the  first  time,  were  turned  seaward  as  a  beacon  for  the  mariner. 


64 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


Among  the  early  developments  of  the  electric  light  was  the  Jablochkoff 
'candle,  see  Fig.  41,  brought  out  in"  1877.  In  this  device  two  parallel  sticks 
of  carbon  G  G  were  separated  by  a  non-conducting  layer  of  kaolin  I,  and 
were  held  in  an  asbestos  ferrule  A.  Metal  tubes  T  T  connected  the  con- 
ducting wires  F  F  to  the  carbons.  The  arc  of  flame  passed  from  the  top  of 
one  carbon  to  the  other,  fusing  the  separating  layer  of  kaolin,  and  the 
whole  burned  down  together  as  a  candle.  This  form  of  electric  light  was 


FIG.   40. — SIMPLE   ELECTRIC   ARC   LAMP. 

extensively  used  in  Paris  in  1877,  and  also  in  London,  and  attracted  con- 
siderable attention. 

From  the  Jablochkoff  candle  the  arc  light  has  resumed  the  form  of  two 
vertically  aligned  carbons,  and  .after  passing  through  various  forms  and 
patterns,  of  which  the  Weston  lamp,  Fig.  42,  is  a  modern  type,  has  come 
into  such  universal  and  conspicuous  use  for  lighting  the  streets  of  our 
cities,  and  is  so  well  known  to-day,  that  but  little  need  be  said  of  its  devel- 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


65 


FIG.   41. 
JABLOCHKOFF   CANDLE. 


opment,  since  its  real  character  has  undergone  no  change  in  principle,  the 
improvements  relating  chiefly  to  means  for  regulating  the  feed  of  the  car- 
bons and  maintaining  them  at  a  uniform  distance  apart,  so  as  to  avoid 
flickering.  This  result  is  obtained  by  automatic 
mechanism  operated  by  the  electric  current  acting 
upon  electro-magnets,  as  shown  in  Fig.  43,  in  which 
the  electro-magnets  raise  the  upper  carbon  when  it 
is  too  close  to  the  lower  carbon,  and  lower  the  upper 
carbon  when  the  space  becomes  too  great  from 
burning  away.  Among  those  who  have  contributed 
to  the  development  of  the  arc  light  the  names  of 
Brush,  -Weston,  and  Thomson  and  Houston  are 
most  conspicuous,  and  the  patents  of  Brush,  No. 
203,411,  May  7,  1878,  and  No.  212,183,  Feb.  n, 
1879,  and  Weston,  No.  285,451,  Sept.  25/1883,  are 
the  most  representative  developments. 

The  applications  of  the  arc  light  have  been  bril- 
liant beyond  the  dreams  of  the  most  sanguine  in- 
ventor. In  the  illustrations  number  44,  45  and  46,  is  shown  a  gigantic 
electric  light  beacon  manufactured  by  Henry  Lepaute,  of  Paris,  and  first 
exhibited  in  this  country  at  the  Chicago  World's  Fair,  in  1893.  It  con- 
sists of  two  great  lenses,  each  nine  feet  in  diameter, 
between  which,  in  their  focus,  is  placed  a  9,000  candle 
power  arc  light.  The  great  lantern,  Fig.  45,  is  carried 
by  a  vertical  shaft,  which  terminates  at  its  lower  end  in 
a  hollow  drum,  which  latter  floats  in  a  bath  of  mer- 
cury. Although  the  weight  is  estimated  at  several 
tons,  so  sensitive  is  its  poise  on  the  mercury  that  the 
enormous  lantern  may  be  easily  rotated  by  the  pressure 
of  one's  finger.  Each  lens  consists  of  concentric  seg- 
ments, see  Fig.  46,  190  in  number,  surrounding  a  cen- 
tral disk,  which  together  cause  the  rays  to  issue  in 
parallel  lines.  The  nine-foot  beam  of  light  thus  pro- 
jected is  of  90,000,000  candle  power,  and  if  placed  at  a 
sufficient  altitude  to  avoid  the  curvature  of  the  earth's 
surface,  its  light  would  be  visible  at  the  range  of  146.9 
nautical  miles. 

Better  known  to  the  patrons  of  our  excursion  boats 

and  the  visitors  to  our  splendid  battleships,  are  the  electric  search  lights. 
The  greatest  example  of  all  search  lights,  however,  is  not  to  be  found  on 


FIG.  42. 
WESTON  ARC  LAMP. 


6o 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


the  sea,  but  in  the  picturesque  altitudes  of  the  Sierra  Madres  in  Southern 
California.  At  the  summit  of  Mount  Lowe,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Pasa- 
dena, is  the  largest  search  light  in  the  world,  shown  in  illustration,  Fig.  48. 
It  is  of  3,000,000  candle  power,  stands  eleven  feet  high,  and  its  total 
weight  is  6,000  pounds.  Its  light  may  be  seen  for  150  miles  out  on  the 
ocean,  and  as  its  powerful  beam  is  thrown  from  mountain  top  to  mountain 
top  hundreds  of  miles  apart,  it  adds  the  illumination  of  art  to  the  sublimity 
of  nature,  and  seems  a  fitting  jewel  to  this  lofty 
crown  of  Mother  Earth. 

Brilliant  as  is  the  arc  lamp,  far  more  in  evi- 
dence is  the  incandescent  lamp.  The  little  glass 
bulb  with  its  tiny  thread  of  light  we  find  every- 
where. Popular  opinion  and  the  decision  of  the 
courts  accord  this  invention  to  Thomas  A.  Edi- 
son. The  evolution  of  the  incandescent  lamp 
is,  however,  interesting,  and  may  be  briefly 
sketched  as  follows  : 

In  1845  there  appeared  in  the  Philosophical 
Magazine  a  description  of  what  was  probably 
the  first  incandescent  electric  light.  It  was  de- 
vised in  1840  by  William  Robert  Grove,  the  in- 
ventor of  the  Grove  battery,  and  is  illustrated  in 
Fig.  49.  It  is  stated  that  he  experimented  and 
read  by  it  for  hours.  It  was  described  as  fol- 
lows : 

"A  coil  of  platinum  wire  is  attached  to  two 
copper  wires,  the  lower  parts  of  which,  or  those 
most  distant  from  the  platinum,  are  well  var- 
nished ;  these  are  fixed  erect  in  a  glass  of  distilled 
water,  and  another  cylindrical  glass,  closed  at 
the  upper  end,  is  inverted  over  them,  so  that  its 
open  mouth  rests  on  the  bottom  of  the  former 

glass;  the  projecting  ends  of  the  copper  wires  are  connected  with  a  voltaic 
battery  (two  or  three  pairs  of  the  nitric  acid  combination),  and  the  ignited 
wire  now  gives  a  steady  light.  Instead  of  making  the  wires  pass  through 
the  water,  they  may  be  fixed  to  metallic  caps  well  luted  to  the  necks  of  a 
glass  globe." 

In  1845  August  King  patented,  in  England,  an  incandescent  lamp. 
having  an  unsealed  platinum  burner,  and  also  a  carbon  in  a  vacuum.  Mr. 
King  acted  as  agent  for  an  American  inventor,  Mr.  Starr,  and  the  lamp 


ARC  LAMP  FEED  MECHANISM. 


IN  THE  XIXETEEXTH  CENTURY. 


came  to  be  known  as  the  Starr-King  lamp,  shown  in  Fig.  50.  The  burner 
was  a  thin  plate  or  pencil  of  carbon  B,  enclosed  in  a  Torricellian  vacuum  at 
the  end  of  an  inverted  barometer  tube,  and  held  between  the  terminals  of 
the  connecting  wires  leading  to  a  battery.  In  1859  Moses  G.  Farmer 

lighted  his  house  at 
Salem,  Mass.,  by  a  se- 
ries of  subdivided  elec- 
tric lights,  which  was 
the  first  private  dwell- 
ing lighted  by  electri- 
city, and  probably  the 
first  illustration  of  the 
feasibility  of  subdivid- 
ing the  electric  current 
through  a  number  of 
electric  lamps. 

In  1877  William  E. 
Sawyer  applied  for  a 
United  States  patent 
for  an  electric  engineer- 
ing and  lighting  sys- 
tem, and  in  January, 
1878,  entered  into  a 
partnership  with  Albon 
Man,  and  the  "Sawyer- 
Man"  lamp,  see  Fig.  51, 
was  produced.  In  this 
an  incandescent  rod  of 
carbon  was  inclosed  in 
an  atmosphere  of  nitro- 
gen. This  marked  the 
beginning  of  a  period 
of  great  activity  in  this 
field,  which  finally  re- 
sulted in  the  well 

FIG.    44-— NINE   THOUSAND   CANDLE    POWER    ARC   LAMP.         knOWtt    form    of    electric 

lamp  shown  in  Fig.  52, 

which  was  patented  by  Edison,  No.  223,898,  January  27,  1880.  The  dis- 
tinctive features  of  this  lamp  consisted  in  a  bowed  filament  of  carbon  of 
very  thin,  thread-like  character,  which  was  made  of  paper  or  carbonized 


68 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


FIG.    45. — NINETY    MILLION    CANDLE   POWER   BIVALVE   LENS. 

cellulose.    This,  when  sealed  in  a  vacuum,  would  not  burn  away,  but  would 
give  the  proper  incandescence,  and  by  its  small  transverse  dimension  and 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


69 


high  resistance  to  the  current,  permitted  a  proper  distribution  of  the  elec- 
tric current  to  a  number  of  lamps,  without  a  special  regulator  for  each 
lamp  ;  and  which  could  also  be  made  so  cheaply  that  the  lamp  could  be 
thrown  away  when  the  burner  was  finally  broken.  Edison's  claim  on  this 


FIG.   46. — FRONT  VIEW  OF  LENS. 

feature  of  the  electric  lamp  was  sharply  contested  in  an  interference  in  the 
Patent  Office  by  Sawyer  and  Man,  with  the  decisions  alternating  first  in 
favor  of  one'  and  then  of  the  other,  but  which  finally  resulted  in  the  grant 
of  a  patent  to  Sawyer  and  Man,  on  May  12,  1885.  A  struggle  then  began 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  7.Y/7I.Y77O.Y 


FIG.  47. — SEARCH  LIGHT  WITH   MACHINE  GUN  REPELLING  NIGHT  ATTACK  OF  TORPEDO  BOAT. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


71 


in  the  courts,  which  on  October  4,  1892,  terminated  in  a  decision  by  the 
Cnited  States  Court  of  Appeals  (Edison  Electric  Light  Company  vs. 
United  States  Lighting  Company ),  awarding  the  incandescent  lamp  to 
Edison. 

In  the-  early  demonstration  given  by  Edison  great  disturbance  was 
caused  in  the  stock  exchanges  among  the  holders  of  gas  shares,  as  the  sen- 
sational reportings  in  the  press  seemed  to  indicate  that  gas  was  to  be  su- 


FIG.   48. — SEARCH  LIGHT  ON   MOUNT  LOWE,  CALIFORNIA. 

perseded  entirely.  This  uneasiness  on  the  London  Stock  Exchange 
amounted  on  October  u,  1878,  to  a  veritable  panic,  but  while  the  electric 
light  has  more  than  fulfilled  the  prophecy  made  for  it  in  many  directions, 
gas  shares  still  continue  to  be  good  stocks. 

Closely  allied  to  the  practical  use  of  the  incandescent  lamp  is  the' 
method  of  supplying  and  regulating  the  current  from  the  dynamo.  Al- 
though the  alternating  current  is  used  for  arc  light,  only  the  continuous 
current  can  be  used  for  the  incandescent  lights,  and  the  relation 


72 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


FIG.  49. — FIRST  INCANI 


5OR  GROVE,   1840. 


of  the  dynamo  and  the  incandescent  lamps  is  shown  in  Fig.  53, 
in  which  L  represents  the  lamps  between  the  main  conducting  wires  lead- 
ing from  the  dynamo,  which  latter  has  the  coils  of  the  field  magnets  ar- 
ranged in  a  shunt  or  branch  circuit,  in  which  is  inter- 
posed a  regulator  R  in  the  form  of  a  resistance  coil  with 
movable  switch  lever,  by  which  more  or  less  of  the  cur- 
rent is  allowed  to  flow  through  the  field  magnet  coils  to 
suit  the  work  being  done.  In  late  years  automatic  regula- 
tors have  been  provided  for  accomplishing  this  result.  In 
Fig.  54  is  shown  what  is  known  as  the  Edison  "three 
wire  system,"  patented  March  20,  1883,  No.  274,290.  In 
this  two  dynamos  are  used  as  at  D1  DJ,  and  the  three 
wires  emerge  from  the  dynamos,  one  from  the  negative 
pole  of  one  dynamo,  another  from  the  positive  pole  of  the 
other  dynamo,  and  the  third  or  middle  one  is  connected 
to  both  the  other  poles  (positive  and  negative),  of  the 
two  dynamos.  For  purposes  of  illustration,  this  may 
be  compared  to  a  three-storied  arrangement  of  current, 
the  upper  wire  representing  the  third  story,  the  middle 
wire  the  second  story,  and  the  bottom  one  the  first  story. 
The  fall  from  either  story  to  the  next  represents  the 
working  energy,  but  from  the  top  wire  to  the  bottom 
would  be  equal  to  a  fall  from  the  third  story  to  the  first. 
The  purpose  of  this  arrangement  is  to  save  expense  in 
copper  wire,  for  while  three  main  wires  are  used  instead 

FIG.    50* — STARR~  ** 

KING  LAMP.         of  two,  the  aggregate  weight  of  the  wires   (when  the 


\ 


7.V  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


73 


lamps  are  arranged  as  shown),  may  be  made  so 
much  less  than  two  heavy  wires  as  to  make  a  very 
great  saving  in  copper. 

The  uses  of  the  incandescent  light  are  legion.  Be- 
sides those  which  are  of  common  observation  it  is  used 
for  lighting  the  interior  of  mines,  caves,  and  the  dark 
apartments  of  ships,  and  does  not  foul  the  air.  It  is 
also  used  by  divers  in  submarine  operations ;  in  the 
formation  of  advertising  signs,  and  in  pyrotechnics, 
but  perhaps  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  uses  to 
which  it  has  been  put  is  in  exploring  the  interior  of  the 
human  stomach  and  other  cavities  of  the  body,  a  pat- 
ent for  which  was  granted  to  M.  C.  F.  Xitze,  Xo.  218,- 
055,  July  29,  1879. 

When  an  elec-  / 
trie  lamp  is  ar- 
ranged with  the 
opposite  ends  of 
the  carbon  burner 
connected,  one  to 

KIG.  51.— SAWYER-         the   outgoing,     the 
MAN     LAMP.  other  to  the  incom- 

ing   wires    from    a 

dynamo,  so  as  to  be  bridged  across,  this 

arrangement  is  said  to  be  "in  multiple" 

or  "in  parallel,"  and  the  lamps  bear  the 

analogy  of  horses  drawing  abreast,  and 

when  the  opposite  ends  of  the  carbon 

burner  are  placed  in  a  gap  or  break  in 

either  the    outgoing    or    the    incoming 

wire,  the  arrangement  is  said  to  be  "in 

series,"  and  the  lamps  bear  the  analogy 

of  horses  in  tandem. 

Explanation  of     electric    nomencla- 
ture can  best  be  given  by  the  analogy 

in   hydrostatics   of  a   stream   of   water 

passing  in  the  hose  pipe  from  a  fire-en- 

gine.          The-  "watt"    indicates    the    SUm 

total  unit  of  electrical  power  for  a  def-  S^JS 

j         e     ,  •  i     •        it         i  rial.      G    Screw-threads.      HI—  Metal  socket, 

mite    period     Of    time,     and     in     the    hose   /_ ^ix'urearm      A--C;rcait  controlling  key. 


FIG.    52. — EDISON  S   ELECTRIC  LAMP. 
.4— Exhausted   globe.    .#— Carbon  filament. 


74 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


pipe  would  be  represented  by  the  effective  force  of  a  definite  volume  of 
water,  passing  at  a  definite  pressure,  during  a  definite  period  of  time. 

"Volt"  is  a  pressure  unit 
of  electro-motive  force, 
and  would  be  represent- 
ed by  the  power  of  the 
engine.  '"Ampere" 
would  be  the  quantity, 
or  volume  unit,  or  cross 
section  of  the  hose  pipe, 
and  the  "ohm"  would  be 
the  unit  of  frictional  re- 
sistance. The  "watt" 
then  would  be  the  "volt" 
multiplied  by  the  "am- 
pere" ;  thus  500  watts 
would  be  10  amperes  at 
50  volts,  or  50  amperes  at  10  volts.  Low  tension  circuits,  such  as  are  used 
for  incandescent  lights,  range  from  TOO  to  240  volts  and  are  harmless. 
Trolley  circuits  are  usually  500  volts,  and  will  kill  an  animal,  but  are  not 


FIG.   53- — ELECTRIC  LIGHT  CIRCUIT. 


FIG.    54. — EDISON'S    THREE    WIRE    SYSTEM    OF    ELECTRIC    LIGHT    CIRCUITS. 

necessarily  fatal  to  man.    High  tension  currents  from  2,000  to  5,000  volts, 
such  as  are  used  for  arc  lights,  are  fatal. 

Of  all  modern   inventions,   not   one  has   advertised   itself   in   such   a 
spectacular  way  as  the  electric  light.     Those  who  have  seen  the  magnifi- 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  75 

cent  electrical  displays  at  the  Chicago  Fair,  the  electrical  celebrations  in 
New  York,  and  the  Omaha  Exhibition,  need  no  introduction  to  its  marvel- 
ous splendors  and  beauties.  In  the  annual  report  for  1898  of  the  Edison 
Electric  Illuminating  Company  of  New  York,  its  statement  shows  that  for 
that  city  alone  the  gross  earnings  were  $2,898,021.  There  were  9,990 
users  of  the  electric  light,  443,074  incandescent  lamps,  and  7,353  arc 
lights.  It  is  estimated  that  the  electric  light  stations  and  plants  in  the 
United  States  alone  amount  to  $600,000,000.  In  the  year  1899  a  single 
manufacturing  concern  (The  General  Electric  Company)  received  orders 
for  10,000,000  incandescent  lamps,  which  is  about  one-half  of  the  present 
annual  production.  Sixteen  years  ago  the  lamps  were  $i  each;  to-day 
they  can  be  bought  for  18  cents. 

What  the  future  has  in  store  for  the  further  development  of  the  elec- 
tric light  no  one  may  dare  predict.  Already  a  different  form  or  manifes- 
tation of  electric  light  has  been  demonstrated,  in  which  neither  the  electric 
arc  nor  the  incandescent  filament  is  used,  but  a  peculiar  glow  is  seen  dis- 
associated from  a  direct  material  habitation,  and  produced  by  currents  of 
enormous  frequency  and  high  potential,  in  accordance  with  the  patent  to 
Tesla,  No.  454,622,  June  23,  1891.  Other  worthy  inventors  in  this  field 
are  at  work,  and  its  development  will  be  one  of  the  interesting  problems  of 
the  Twentieth  Century. 


76  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

THE  TELEPHONE. 

PRELIMINARY  SUGGESTIONS  AND  EXPERIMENTS  OF  BOURSEUL,  REIS  AND  DRAWBAUGH 
— FIRST  SPEAKING  TELEPHONE  BY  PROF.  BELL — DIFFERENCES  BETWEEN  REIS'  AND 
BELL'S  TELEPHONES — THE  BLAKE  TRANSMITTER — BERLINER'S  VARIATION  OF  RE- 
SISTANCE, AND  ELECTRIC  UNDULATIONS  BY  VARIATION  OF  PRESSURE — EDISON'S 
CARBON  MICROPHONE — THE  TELEPHONE  EXCHANGE — STATISTICS. 

T?;Af  (far),  and  (poovrj  (sound),  are  the  Greek  roots  from 
which  the  word  telephone  is  derived.  It  has  the  significance  of 
transmitting  sound  to  distant  points,  and  is  a  word  antedating 
the  present  speaking  telephone,  although  this  fact  is  generally 
lost  sight  of  in  the  dazzling  brilliancy  of  this  latter  invention.  In  the 
effort  to  hear  better,  the  American  Indian  was  accustomed  to  place  his 
ear  to  the  ground.  Children  of  former  generations  also  made  use  of  a  toy 
known  as  the  "lovers'  telegraph" — a  piece  of  string  held  under  tension 
between  the  flexible  bottoms  of  two  tin  boxes — which  latter  when  spoken 
into  transmitted  through  the  string  the  vibrations  from  one  box  to  the 
other,  and  made  audible  words  spoken  at  a  distance.  These  expedients 
simply  made  available  the  superior  conductivity  of  the  solid  body  over  the 
air  to  transmit  sound  waves.  The  electro-magnetic  telephone  operates 
on  an  entirely  different  principle.  It  is  a  marvelous  creation  of  genius, 
and  stands  alone  as  the  unique,  superb,  and  unapproachable  triumph  of 
the  Nineteenth  Century.  For  subtilty  of  principle,  impressiveness  of  ac- 
tion, and  breadth  of  results,  there  is  nothing  comparable  with  it  among 
mechanical  agencies.  In  its  wonderful  function  of  placing  one  intelligent 
being  in  direct  vocal  and  sympathetic  communication  with  another  a  thou- 
sand miles  away,  its  intangible  and  mysterious  mode  of  action  suggests  to 
the  imagination  that  unseen  medium  of  prayer  rising  from  the  conscious 
human  heart  to  its  omniscient  and  responsive  God.  The  telegraph  and 
railroad  had  already  brought  all  the  peoples  of  the  earth  into  intimate 
communication  and  made  them  close  kin,  but  the  telephone  transformed 
them  into  the  closer  relationship  of  families,  and  the  tiny  wire,  sentient 
and  responsive  with  its  unlimited  burden  of  human  thoughts  and  human 
feelings,  forms  one  of  the  great  vital  cords  in  the  solidarity  of  the  human 
family. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  77 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  many,  and  perhaps  most,  great  inventions  have 
been  in  the  nature  of  accidental  discoveries,  the  by-products  of  thought 
directed  in  another  channel,  and  seeking  other  results,  but  the  telephone 
does  not  belong  to  this  class.  It  is  the  logical  and  magnificent  outcome  of 
persistent  thought  and  experiment  in  the  direction  of  the  electrical  trans- 
mittal  of  speech.  Prof.  Bell  had  his  objective  point,  and  keeping  this 
steadily  in  view,  worked  faithfully  for  the  accomplishment  of  his  object  in 
producing  a  speaking  telephone,  until  success  crowned  his  work.  He 
probably  did  not  realize  at  first  the  full  magnitude  of  the  achievement,  but 
looking  at  it  from  the  end  of  the  Nineteenth  Century,  he  might  well  ex- 
claim in  the  language  of  Horace:  "E.vegi  monumentwn  acre  percnnius." 

Prof.  Bell's  conception  of  the  telephone  dates  back  as  far  as  1874.  His 
first  United  States  patent,  No.  174,465,  was  granted  March  7,  1876,  and 
his  second  January  30,  1877,  No.  186,787.  It  is  generally  the  fate  of  most 
inventions,  even  of  a  meritorious  order,  to  languish  for  many  years,  and 
frequently  through  the  whole  term  of  the  patent,  before  receiving  full  rec- 
ognition and  adoption  by  the  public,  but  the  meteoric  brilliancy  of  this  in- 
vention at  its  first  public  announcement  astonished  the  masses,  and  in- 
spired the  admiration  of  the  savants  of  the  world.  When  exhibited  at  the 
Centennial  Exhibition  in  Philadelphia,  in  1876,  it  was  spoken  of  by  Sir 
William  Thomson,  and  Prof.  Henry,  as  the  "greatest  by  far  of  all  the 
marvels  of  the  electric  telegraph." 

It  is  always  the  fate  of  the  author  of  any  great  invention  to  be  com- 
pelled to  defend  himself  against  the  claims  of  others.  It  is  one  of  the  fail- 
ings of  human  nature  to  lay  claim  to  that  which  somebody  else  has  ob- 
tained, and  is  an  old  story  which  finds  its  first  illustration  in  the  squabbles 
of  childhood.  When  a  troop  of  prattling  boys  hunt  butterflies  among  the 
daisies,  and  some  sharp-eyed  youngster  has  captured  a  prize,  there  are  al- 
ways others  of  his  mates  to  cry,  "I  saw  it  first,"  and  men  are  but  grown-up 
boys.  So  in  the  history  of  the  telephone,  Prof.  Bell  has  found  competitors 
for  this  honor,  and  it  is  astonishing  to  know  how  close  some  of  these  prior 
experimenters  came  to  success  without  reaching  it.  In  1854  Bourseul,  of 
Paris  suggested  an  electric  telephone,  and  in'  1861  Philip  Reis  devised  an 
electric  telephone  which  would  transmit  musical  tones.  Daniel  Draw- 
baugh,  of  Pennsylvania,  is  alleged  to  have  made  an  electric  telephone  in 
1867-1868,  and  his  claims  against  the  Bell  interests  were  fought  vigorously 
in  the  Patent  Office,  and  in  the  courts,  but  without  success.  Elisha  Gray's 
claims  perhaps  came  nearer  to  establishing  for  him  a  share  in  the  honor  of 
inventing  the  speaking  telephone  than  any  other,  for  he  filed  a  caveat  in 
the  United  States  Patent  Office  upon  the  same  day  (February  14,  1876), 


78  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

upon  which  Prof.  Bell's  application  for  a  patent  was  made.  But  in  the 
contest  in  the  Patent  Office  with  Gray,  Edison,  Berliner,  Richmond,  Hoi- 
combe,  Farmer,  Dolbear,  Volker,  and  others,  it  was  decided  that  Prof. 
Bell  was  the  first  to  make  a  practically  effective  speaking  telephone,  and 
this  conclusion  has  been  sustained  by  the  courts.  Reis  was  a  poor  German 
school  teacher  at  Friedrichsdorf,  and  in  1860  he  took  a  coil  of  wire,  a 
knitting  needle,  the  skin  of  a  German  sausage,  the  bung  of  a  beer  barrel, 
and  a  strip  of  platinum,  and  constructed  the  first  electric  telephone.  A 
typical  form  of  his  transmitter,  see  Fig.  55,  was  a  box  covered  with  a 
vibrating  membrane  E,  and  provided  with  a  mouth-piece  at  one  side.  A 
platinum  strip  F  was  attached  to  the  membrane  or  vibrating  diaphragm  E, 
and  a  platinum  pointed  hammer  G  rested  lightly  on  the  platinum  strip  F. 
The  hammer  G  and  platinum  strip  F  were  connected  to  the  opposite  ends  of 
a  wire,  which  had  in  its  circuit  a  battery  and  a  receiver.  Air  vibrations  in 


FIG.    55. — PHILIP  REIS     TELEPHONE. 


the  nature  of  sound  waves  in  the  box  caused  the  diaphragm  E  to  vibrate, 
and  a  separating  make-and-break  contact  between  the  platinum  strip  F 
and  the  platinum  point  of  hammer  G  caused  a  series  of  separate  and  dis- 
tinct broken  impulses  to  traverse  the  battery  circuit  and  be  received  upon 
the  receiver,  which  latter  consisted  of  an  iron  rod  with  a  coil  of  wire 
around  it.  That  Reis'  transmitter  did  alternately  make  and  break  the 
circuit,  seems  clear  from  his  own  memoir.  A  translation  from  this  mem- 
oir, taken  from  the  annual  report  (Jahresberichte)  of  the  Physical  Society 
of  Frankfurt  am  Main  for  1860-1861,  reads  as  follows: 

"At  the  first  condensation  (of  air  vibrations)  the  hammer-shaped  little 
wire  d  (G  in  our  illustration),  will  be  pushed  back.  At  the  succeeding 
rarefaction  it  cannot  follow  the  return  vibration  of  the  membrane,  and  the 
current  going  through  the  little  strip  (of  platinum)  remains  interrupted 
so  long  as  until  the  membrane  driven  by  a  new  condensation  presses  the 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  79 

little  strip  against  d  (the  hammer  G)  once  more.    In  this  way  each  sound 
wave  effects  an  opening  and  closing  of  the  current." 

Reis  evidently  did  not  know  how  to  make  the  vibrations  of  his  dia- 
phragm translate  themselves  into  exactly  commensurate  and  correlated 
electric  impulses  of  equal  rapidity,  range,  and  quality.  If  he  had  done  this, 
he  would  have  had  a  speaking  telephone,  but  a  make-and-break  contact 
could  never  do  it,  and  hence  he  in  his  later  instruments  attached  to  them  a 
telegraphic  key  in  order  that  the  sending  operator  might  communicate 
with  the  receiving  operator.  If  Reis'  telephone  had  been  a  speaking  tele- 
phone, this  would  have  been  unnecessary.  Furthermore,  it  is  inconceiv- 
able how  the  intelligent,  progressive,  and  scientific  Germans  could  have 
failed  to  have  given  to  a  speaking  telephone  in  1860  the  immediate  honor 
and  attention  that  it  deserved.  In  America,  the  Bell  speaking  telephone, 
invented  in  1876,  was  known  all  over- the  civilized  world  the  same  year. 
Reis'  broken  contact  circuit  would  transmit  musical  tones,  because  musical 
tones  vary  chiefly  in  rapidity  of  vibration,  rather  than  in  range,  or  quality, 
and  the  chattering  contacts  of  Reis'  telephone  would  transmit  musical 
tones  because  said  contracts  could  be  adjusted  to  the  practically  uniform 
range  of  vibration.  Prof.  Bell,  however,  had  made  a  special  study  of  ar- 
ticulate speech,  and  knew  that  speech  was  not  essentially  musical,  but  was 
composed  of  an  irregular  and  discordant  medley  of  vowel  and  consonant 
sounds,  whose  vibrations  varied  not  only  in  pitch  or  rapidity  like  musical 
tones,  but  also  in  the  quality  or  kind  of  vibrations  as  to  range  and  loud- 
ness.  In  his  invention,  therefore,  he  did  not  make  and  break  the  circuit  as 
did  Reis,  through  the  contact  points,  but  he  used  the  more  sensitive  plan  of 
a  constantly  closed  circuit,  and  merely  caused  the  current  to  undulate  in  it 
by  a  principle  of  magnetic  induction.  This  principle  was  first  discovered 
by  Oersted,  and  developed  into  the  well  known  fact  that  when  a  piece  of 
iron  is  moved  back  and  forth  from  the  poles  of  an  electro-magnet  an  in- 
duced current  is  made  to  oscillate  in  the  helix  of  the  electro-magnet.  The 
difference  between  Reis'  separating  make-and-break  circuit,  and  the  Bell 
continuous  but  undulating  current,  might  be  illustrated  by  the  difference 
between  the  impulses  delivered  by  the  beating  of  the  drum  sticks  on  the 
head  of  a  drum,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  alternate  pulling  and  slackening 
of  a  kite  cord,  on  the  other.  In  the  successive  impacts  on  the  head  of  a 
drum  there  could  not  be  so  sensitive  a  transfer  of  motion  to  the  lower  head 
of  the  drum  as  there  would  be  transferred  to  the  kite  by  the  movement  of 
the  hand  holding  the  kite  cord.  Reis'  plan  resembled  the  broken  drum 
beats,  and  Bell's  the  kite  cord,  which  always  preserved  a  certain  amount  of 
tension.  Bell  accomplished  his  object  by  the  means  shown  in  Figs.  56  and 


80  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

57,  in  which  Fig.  56  represents  his  first  patent  of  March  7,  1876,  and  Fig. 
57  his  second  patent  of  January  30,  1877.  In  both  cases  the  current  was  a 
continuously  closed  one,  and  was  not  alternately  made  and  broken  as  by 
the  separating  contacts  of  Reis.  Prof.  Bell  caused  the  vocal  air  vibrations 
to  undulate  or  oscillate  the  continuously  closed  circuit  by  the  principle  of 
magnetic  induction  as  follows  (see  Fig.  56)  :  Pie  caused  diaphragm  a, 
when  spoken  against,  to  vibrate  the  armature  c  in  front  of  the  electro-mag- 
net b,  but  without  touching  it,  and  as  the  armature  approached  and  re- 
ceded from  the  electro-magnet  it  induced  an  undulating  but  never  broken 
current  in  the  helix  of  this  electro-magnet  and  along  the  line  to  and 
through  the  helix  of  the  electro-magnet  /  at  the  distant  receiver,  and  this 
undulating  current,  influencing  the  armature  h,  which  touched  the  dia- 
phragm i  but  not  the  electro-magnet,  produced  in  the  attractive  influence  of 
the  magnet  on  this  armature  and  diaphragm,  vibrations  of  the  same  rapid- 
ity, range,  and  quality  as  those  vocal  vibrations  that  acted  upon  the  first 


FIG.  56. — PKOF.  BELL'S  TELEPHONE,  MARCH  7,  1876. 

diaphragm  a.  In  other  words,  the  sequence  of  transference  was  air  vibra- 
tions in  A,  mechanical  vibrations  of  diaphragm  a,  electrical  undulations 
traversing  the  line,  induced  vibrations  in  armature  h  and  diaphragm  i,  and 
air  vibrations  again  resolved  back  into  sounds  of  articulate  speech,  the 
same  as  those  spoken  into  A.  It  will  be  perceived  that  in  the  Bell  tele- 
phone both  transmitter  and  receiver  were  of  identical  construction.  This 
is  better  shown  in  Fig.  57  of  his  later  patent,  in  which  the  horizontal  line 
below  the  electro-magnet  on  one  side  represents  a  metal  transmitting  dia- 
phragm, and  the  horizontal  line  under  the  electro-magnet  at  the  other  side 
was  the  receiving  diaphragm.  Not  only  were  the  sounds  thus  reproduced, 
but  as  the  circuit  was  continuous  and  never  broken  by  any  separating  con- 
tacts, the  extreme  sensitiveness  of  the  electric  vibrations  set  up  by  mag- 
netic induction  was  such  that  the  discordant  and  irregular  quality  of  the 
vibrations  of  articulate  speech  were  transferred  and  reproduced  with  exact 
fidelity,  as  well  as  the  musical  tones,  and  this  rendered  the  speaking  tele- 
phone a  success.  In  later  telephones  the  current  is  actually  transmitted 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


81 


through  the  contacting  points,  but  this  only  became  practicable  after  the 
carbon  microphone  transmitter  was  invented,  in  which  the  essential  undu- 
lations of  the  electric  current  were  produced  in  another  way,  i.  c.,  by  the 
application  of  the  important  discovery  that  the  varying  of  the  pressure  on 
carbon,  by  vibration,  varied  its  conductivity,  and  in  this  way  produced  the 
same  result  of  undulating  a  current  without  breaking  it.  This  in  no  wise 
detracts  from  the  value  of  the  principle  of  the  continuous  undulating  cur- 
rent discovered  and  employed  by  Prof.  Bell,  between  which  and  the  breaks 
of  the  hard  platinum  points  of  Reis  there  is  a  difference  as  wide  as  the 
difference  between  success  and  failure. 

The  form  in  which  Prof.  Bell's  telephone  was  placed  before  the  public 
was  not  that  shown  in  the  patents,  but  it  quickly  assumed  the  well-known 
shape  of  an  elongated  cylinder  forming  a  handle,  with  a  flaring  mouth- 


FIG.  57. — PROF.  BELL'S  TELEPHONE,  JANUARY  30,   1877. 


piece  at  one  end.  This  development  in  form  is  credited  to  Dr.  Channing 
in  1877,  and  it  is  the  familiar  form  to-day,  whose  internal  construction  is 
shown  in  Fig.  58.  The  handle  is  made  of  hard  rubber,  and  the  cap  or 
mouth-piece,  which  is  screwed  thereon,  is  also  of  hard  rubber.  The  dia- 
phragm A,  of  thin  ferrotype  plate,  is  clamped  at  its  edges  between  the  cap, 
or  mouth-piece,  and  the  handle.  The  compound  magnet  B  is  composed  of 
four  thin  flat  bar  magnets,  arranged  in  pairs  on  opposite  sides  of  the  flat 
end  of  the  soft  iron  pole  piece  c  at  one  end,  and  the  soft  iron  spacing  piece 
(/  at  the  other  end,  the  magnets  being  clamped  to  these  pieces  with  like 
poles  all  in  one  direction.  The  end  of  the  pole  piece  c  extends  to  within 
1-100  to  2-100  of  an  inch  of  the  diaphragm,  or  as  near  as  possible  so  that 
the  diaphragm  does  not  touch  it  when  it  vibrates.  On  the  pole  piece  c  is 
placed  a  wooden  spool  on  which  is  wound  silk-covered  wire  (No.  34,  Am. 
W.  G.)-  This  wire  fills  the  spool,  and  its  ends  are  soldered  to  two  insu- 


82 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


lated  wires  which  pass  through  a  flexible  rubber  disc  /  below  the  spool  and 
extend  respectively  to  the  two  binding  posts  at  the  opposite  end  of  the 
handle.  The  current  passes  from  one  binding  post  and  its  connecting 
wire,  through  the  wire  on  the  spool,  and  thence  to  the  other  connecting 
wire  and  binding  post.  When  used  as  a  transmitter,  vocal  vibrations  act- 
ing mechanically  on  the  diaphragm  A  produce  undulatory  vibrations  by 
magnetic  induction  in  the  spool  of  wire,  which  are  transmitted  to  the  other 
end  of  the  line;  and  when  used  as  a  receiver,  the  undulatory  vibrations 
from  the  remote  end  of  the  line  produce  mechan- 
ical vibrations  in  the  diaphragm,  which  set  up  air 
vibrations  that  are  reproductions  of  articulate 
sounds. 

Although  the  Bell  telephone  is  both  a  trans- 
mitter and  receiver,  in  practice  a  more  sensitive 
and  better  form  of  transmitter  has  taken  its  place. 
That  most  generally  used  and  best  known  is  the 
"Blake  transmitter,"  which  was  brought  out  about 
1880.  This  employs  two  important  elements. 
The  first  is  the  carbon  microphone,  which  is  a 
means  for  producing  the  undulations  in  the  cur- 
rent by  the  variations  in  pressure  on  carbon  con- 
tacts, and  the  second  is  an  induction  coil  operated 
by  a  local  battery,  whose  primary  circuit  passes 
through  the  contacts  of  the  carbon  microphone, 
and  whose  secondary  circuit  passes  over  the  line. 
These  fundamental  elements  of  the  Blake  trans- 
mitter were  the  inventions  of  Berliner  and  Edi- 
son, and  were  made  in  1877.  The  broad  idea  of 
producing  electric  undulations  by  varying  the 
pressure  between  electrodes  by  vocal  vibrations, 
was  a  large  bone  of  contention  in  the  Patent 
Office  between  various  inventors.  An  application 
for  a  patent  for  the  same  was  filed  in  the  Pat- 
ent Office  by  Emile  Berliner,  June  4,  1877,  which  was  contested  in  an  in- 
terference by  Gray,  Edison,  Richmond,  Dolbear,  Holcombe,  Prof.  Bell, 
and  others.  After  fourteen  years  of  litigation  the  patent  was  finally 
awarded  to  Berliner.  The  patent  granted  to  him  November  17,  1891,  No. 
463,569,  is  a  valuable  one,  and  has  become  the  property  of  the  American 
Bell  Telephone  Company.  The  application  of  a  low  resistance  conductor 
(carbon)  in  a  microphone  was  invented  by  Edison  as  early  as  1877,  but  his 


FIG.   58. LONGITUDINAL 


SECTION  OF  BELL 


TELEPHONE. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


83 


patent,  No.  474,230,  did  not  issue  until  May  3,  1892,  on  account  of  the  in- 
terference with  Berliner  on  the  broader  principle. 

The  Blake  transmitter  takes  its  name  from  the  inventor  of  its  mechan- 
ical features,  who  has  assembled  in  it  the  fundamental  principles  of  Ber- 
liner and  Edison  in  a  sensitive  and  practical  mechanical  construction,  cov- 
ered by  minor  patents,  dated  November  29,  1881.  It  is  the  little  box  in  the 


FIG.   59- BLAKE  TRANSMITTER. 

middle  of  the  familiar  telephone  outfit  into  which  the  talking  is  done.  Its 
internal  construction  is  shown  in  Fig.  59.  To  the  rear  of  the  door  is  se- 
cured the  cast  iron  circulai  ring  A,  inside  of  which  lies  the  Russia  iron 
diaphragm  B,  cushioned  at  its  edges  with  a  rubber  band.  A  circular  seat  a 
little  larger  than  the  diaphragm  is  formed  in  the  iron  ring,  and  on  this  seat 
the  diaphragm  rests.  A  short,  thin  metal  plate  attached  to  the  ring  A  on 
the  right  hand  side  clamps  the  diaphragm  in  position  by  resting  squarely 


34 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


on  the  rubber  edge  of  the  diaphragm.  Its  function  is  like  that  of  a  hinge, 
which  allows  the  diaphragm  to  freely  swing  inward.  A  steel  damping 
spring  is  secured  to  the  ring  at  the  opposite  edge  of  the  diaphragm,  and 
has  its  free  end  provided  with  a  rubber  glove  on  which  is  cemented  a  thin 
piece  of  fluffy  woolen  material.  The  padded  end  of  the  damping  spring 
rests  against  the  diaphragm  and  prevents  excessive  vibration.  The  iron 
ring  A  has  at  its  bottom  a  projection  holding  an  adjusting  screw,  and  to  a 
similar  top  projection  is  attached  by  screws  a  brass  spring,  from  which 
depends  another  casting  C,  supporting  the  microphone  apparatus,  which  is 
best  shown  in  the  diagram,  Fig.  60.  In  this  diagram  A  is  one  terminal  of 
the  battery  connected  by  wire  S  to  the  hinge  H  of  the  box.  From  the 
other  leaf  of  the  hinge  the  wire  M  passes  to  K,  where  it  is  soldered  to  the 


FIG.   GO. — DIAGRAM   OF  CIRCUITS  IN   BLAKE  TRANSMITTER. 


upper  end  of  a  German  silver  spring  I.  At  K  this  spring  is  clamped  and 
insulated  from  the  iron  work  by  two  pieces  of  hard  rubber.  On  the  lower 
end  of  the  spring  I  is  soldered  a  short  piece  of  thick  platinum  wire,  whose 
ends  are  rounded  into  heads,  one  of  which  bears  against  the  diaphragm  N, 
and  the  other  against  the  carbon  button  J.  This  button  is  attached  to  a 
small  brass  weight,  and  is  supported  by  a  spring  R,  clamped  at  its  upper 
end  to  the  metal  support  T.  This  spring  is  surrounded  its  entire  length  by 
rubber  tubing  to  deaden  vibration.  The  transmitter  is  adjusted  by  screw 
O,  which,  acting  upon  casting  T,  brings  the  carbon  button,  the  platinum 
heads,  and  also  the  diaphragm  N,  against  each  other  with  a  regulated  pres- 
sure. The  current  passes  from  the  part  K  to  the  spring  1,  the  platinum 
head,  carbon  button  j",  and  its  supporting  spring  R,  to  metal  casting  T, 
and  ring  V,  thence  by  wire  L  to  the  lower  hinge  G,  by  wire  P  to  the  pri- 


7AT  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


85 


mary  of  the  induction  coil,  and  thence  by  wire  Y  to  binding  post  B,  the 
two  binding  posts  A  B  being  the  two  battery  terminals.  The  secondary 
wire  E  of  the  induction  coil  has  its  ends  connected  by  wires  X  and  \V  with 
the  two  binding  posts  C  B,  which  are  the  line  terminals,  or  one  the  line 
terminal  and  the  other  the  ground  connection.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that 
the  primary  current  passes  through  the  transmitter,  and  the  secondary  tra- 
verses the  line.  The  most  familiar  forms 
of  the  telephone  are  those  seen  in  Figs.  61 
and  62,  but  the  ideal  form  is  rigged  in  a 
cabinet  or  little  room,  which  excludes  all 
extraneous  interfering  sounds. 

With  the  Bell  receiver  and  the  Blake 
transmitter  a  good  practical  telephone  sys- 
tem may  be  constructed,  but  the  improve- 
ments which  have  been  made  in  the  short 
life  of  the  telephone  are  beyond  adequate 
description,  or  even  mention.  They  relate 
to  the  call  bell,  the  battery,  the  switch- 
board, meters  for  registering  calls,  con- 
ductors, conduits,  connections,  lightning 
arresters,  switches,  anti-induction  devices, 
repeaters,  and  systems..  Among  those 
most  prominently  identified  with  its  de- 
velopment are  Bell,  Edison,  Berliner, 
Hughes,  Gray,  Dolbear  and  Phelps. 
The  activity  in  this  field  is  best  illustrated 
by  the  fact  that  the  art  of  telephony, 
begun  practically  in  1876,  has  at  the 
end  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  grown 
into  some  3,000  United  States  patents  on 
the  subject. 

That  which  has  given  the  telephone 
its  greatest  commercial  value  is  the 

"exchange"  system,  by  which  at  a  central  office  any  member  of  a  tele- 
phonic community  may  be  instantly  put  into  communication  with  any  other 
member  of  that  community.  For  this  purpose,  see  Fig.  63,  a  continuous 
switchboard  is  arranged  along  the  side  of  a  large  room  and  occupies  most 
of  that  side  of  the  wall.  It  comprises  a  great  array  of  annunciator  drops, 
spring  jacks  with  plug  seats,  and  connecting  cords  with  metal  plugs  at 
their  opposite  ends.  Each  subscriber  is  connected  to  his  own  spring  jack 


FIG.    6l. — WALL  TELEPHONE. 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


and  annunciator  drop,  and  his  call  to  central  office  (from  his  magneto- 
bell)  throws  down  the  annunciator  drop  which  bears  the  number  of  his 
telephone,  and  announces  to  the  attendant  his  desire  to  communicate  with 
another.  To  insure  the  attention  of  the  attendant,  a  tiny  electric  lamp  is 
by  the  same  action  lighted  directly  in  front  of  her,  which  acts  as  a  pilot 
signal  to  call  her  attention  to  the  drop.  The  attendant  now  puts  a  plug  in 
that  spring  jack,  which  automatically  restores  the  drop,  and  she  then  asks 
the  number  which  the  subscriber  wants,  and,  upon  ascertaining  this,  puts 
the  plug  at  the  other  end  of  the  connecting  cord  into  the  spring  jack  of  the 
subscriber  wanted,  and  by  this  action  disconnects  her  own  telephone.  As 
every  telephone  subscriber  has  in  the  central  office  an  apparatus  exclu- 
sively his  own,  it  will  be  seen  that  a  telephone  community  of  several  thou- 
sands of  subscribers 
involves  an  impos- 
ing array  of  mul- 
t  i  p  1  e  connections, 
and  a  great  expense 
in  construction. 
Girls  are  chosen  as 
exchange  attendants 
because  their  voices 
are  clearer.  Every 
telephone  jack,  how- 
ever, does  not  have 
its  Jill,  for  each  girl 
has  charge  of  a  hun- 
dred or  more  jacks, 
and  wears  constant- 
ly on  her  head  a  telephone  of  special  shape,  embracing  her  head 
like  a  child's  hoop  comb,  but  terminating  with  an  ear-piece  at  one 
end  that  covers  one  ear.  She  is  too  busy  to  waste  time  in  adjusting  an 
ordinary  telephone  to  her  ear,  and  so  wears  one  of  special  design  all  the 
time. 

In  the  twentieth  annual  report  of  the  American  Bell  Telephone  Com- 
pany, for  the  year  1899,  the  number  of  telephones  in  use  January  i,  1900, 
by  that  company  alone,  in  the  United  States,  was  1,580,101  ;  the  miles  of 
wire  were  1,016,777,  and  the  daily  connections  for  persons  using  the  tele- 
phone were  5,173,803.  The  gross  earnings  of  the  company  were  $5,760,- 
106.45,  an(l  it  paid  in  dividends  $3,882,945.  The  total  number  of  ex- 
change stations  of  the  Bell  Company  in  the  principal  countries  of  the 


FIG.    62. — DESK   TELEPHONE. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


87 


world  are:  United  States,  632,946;  Germany,  212,121;  Great  Britain, 
112,840;  Sweden,  63,685 ;  France,  44,865;  Switzerland,  35,536;  Russia, 
26,865  J  Austria,  26,664 ;  Norway,  25,376.  The  United  States  has  nearly 
85,000  more  than  all  the  others  put  together. 

Since  the  expiration  of  the  Bell  patents  many  smaller  companies  have 
sprung  up,  and  the  number  of  telephones  in  use  has  more  than  doubled  in 
the  last  five  years.  Long  distance  telephony  is  now  carried  on  up  to  nearly 
2,000  miles,  and  one  may  to-day  lie  in  bed  in  New  York  and  listen  to  a 
concert  in  Chicago,  and  the  vocal  exchange  of  business  and  social  inter- 


ne. 63. — TELEPHONE  EXCHANGE. 


course  between  cities  has  become  so  large  a  feature  of  modern  life  as  to 
justify  the  organization  of  a  great  company  for  this  service  alone. 

In  the  Old  Testament,  Book  of  Job,  xxxviii.  chapter,  35th  verse,  it  is 
written :  "Canst  thou  send  lightnings  that  they  may  go  and  say  unto  thee 
— 'Here  we  are  ?'  "  For  thousands  of  years  this  challenge  to  Job  has  been 
looked  upon  as  a  feat  whose  execution  was  only  within  the  power  of  the 
Almighty ;  but  to-day  the  inventor — that  patient  modern  Job — has  accom- 
plished this  seemingly  impossible  task,  for  at  the  end  of  this  Nineteenth 
Century  of  the  Chrstian  Era,  the  telephone  makes  the  lightning  man's 
vocal  messenger,  tireless,  faithful,  and  true,  knowing  no  prevarication,  and 
swifter  than  the  winged  messenger  of  the  gods. 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


CHAPTER  IX. 
ELECTRICITY — MISCELLANEOUS. 

STORAGE  BATTERY— BATTERIES  OF  PLANTE,  FAURE  AND  BRUSH — ELECTRIC  WELDING- 
DIRECT  GENERATION  OF  ELECTRICITY  BY  COMBUSTION — ELECTRIC  BOATS — ELECTRO- 
PLATING— EDISON'S  ELECTRIC  PEN — ELECTRICITY  IN  MEDICINE — ELECTRIC  CAU- 
TERY— ELECTRICAL  MUSICAL  INSTRUMENTS— ELECTRIC  BLASTING. 

A  PROMINENT  factor  in  the  electrical  art  is  the  Storage  Battery, 
Secondary  Battery,  or  Accumulator,  as  it  is  variously  called.  A 
storage  battery  acts  upon  the  same  general  principle  as  the  ordi- 
nary galvanic  or  voltaic  battery  in  giving  forth  electrical  current 
as  the  correlated  equivalent  of  the  chemical  force,  but  differs  from  it  in 
this  respect,  that  when  the  elements  of  a  primary  battery  are  used  up,  the 
battery  is  exhausted  beyond  repair.  With  the  storage  battery,  it  may  be 
regenerated  at  will  by  simply  subjecting  it  to  an  electric  current  from  a 
dynamo.  The  dynamo  stores  up  in  this  battery  its  electric  force  by  con- 
verting it  into  chemical  force,  which  is  imprisoned  in  chemical  compounds 
that  are  formed  while  the  power  of  the  dynamo  is  being  applied.  These 
chemical  compounds  are,  however,  in  a  condition  of  unstable  chemical 
equilibrium,  which  is  undisturbed  so  long  as  the  poles  of  the  storage  bat- 
tery are  not  connected,  but  when  connected  through  a  circuit,  the  instabil- 
ity of  the  chemical  compounds  asserts  itself,  and  in  passing  back  to  a  con- 
dition of  normal  equilibrium  the  disruption  gives  off  the  correlative  equiv- 
alent of  electric  current  stored  up  in  it  by  the  dynamo. 

Probably  the  earliest  suggestion  of  a  storage  battery  is  by  Ritter  in 
1812,  in  his  "secondary  pile."  This  device  consisted  of  alternate  discs  of 
copper  and  moistened  card,  and  was  capable  of  receiving  a  charge  from  a 
voltaic  pile  and  of  then  producing  the  physical,  chemical,  and  physiological 
effects  obtained  from  the  ordinary  pile.  The  first  storage  battery  of  im- 
portance, however,  was  made  by  Gaston  Plante  in  1860,  which  consisted 
of  leaden  plates  immersed  in  a  10  per  cent,  solution  of  sulphuric  acid  in 
water.  In  Fig.  64  is  shown  a  modification  of  the  Plante  type  of  storage 
battery,  composed  of  a  series  of  plates  shown  on  the  left.  Each  of  these 
plates  is  built  up,  as  shown  in  detail  in  Fig.  65,  of  lead  strips  corrugated 
and  arranged  in  layers  alternately  with  flat  strips,  within  perforated  lead- 
en cases.  The  corrugation  of  the  leaden  laminae  gives  greater  superficial 


IX  TH1-  XlXl-TlUiXTH  CEXTURY 


89 


area,  and  the  alternation  of  flat  and  corrugated  strips  keeps  them  properly 
spaced,  so  the  sulphuric  acid  solution  may  penetrate  and  act  upon  the 


FIG.   64. — PLANTE  STORAGE  BATTERY. 

same.    Each  plate  section  has  a  rod  to  connect  it  with  its  proper  terminal. 

When  the  charging  current  is  applied,  the  positive  lead  plate  becomes 
covered  with  lead  peroxide  (PbO2)  and  finely 
divided  metallic  lead  is  deposited  on  the  negative 
plate.  When  the  battery  is  being  discharged  the 
peroxide  of  lead  gives  up  one  of  its  atoms  of 
oxygen  to  the  spongy  metallic  lead  deposited  on 
the  other  plate,  and  both  plates  remain  coated 
with  lead  monoxide  (PbO). 

The  most  important  development  of  the  stor- 
age battery  was  made  by  Camille  A.  Faure,  in 
1880  (U.  S.  Pat.  No.  252,002,  Jan  3,  1882) .  In  the 

early  part  of  1881  there  was  sent  from  Paris  to  Glasgow  a  so-called  "box 

ot  electric  energy"  for  inspection  and  test  by  Sir  William  Thomson,  the 


FIG.   65. — ENLARGED  DETAIL 
OF   PLANTE   PLATE. 


90  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

eminent  electrician.  It  was  one  of  the  first  storage  batteries  of  M.  Faure. 
The  illustration,  Fig.  66,  shows  a  battery  of  this  type  in  which  the  lead 
plates  covered  with  red  lead  (PbsO4)  replace  the  plain  lead  plates  in  the 
Plante  cell.  The  action  of  the  battery  is  that  when  a  current  of  electricity 
is  passed  into  the  same,  the  red  lead  on  one  plate  (the  negative)  is  reduced 
to  metallic  lead,  and  that  on  the  other  is  oxidized  to  a  state  of  peroxide 
(PbO2).  These  actions  are  reversed  when  the  charged  cell  is  discharging 
itself.  The  elements  of  this  battery  consist  of  alternate  layers  of  sheet 
lead,  and  a  paste  of  red  oxide  of  lead.  These  are  immersed  in  a  10  per 
cent,  solution  of  sulphuric  acid  in  water.  Many  minor  improvements  have 
been  made  in  the  storage  battery,  covered  by  716  United  States  patents, 
most  of  which  relate  to  cellular  construction  for  holding  the  mass  of  red 
lead  in  place.  The  most  notable  are  those  of  Brush,  to  whom  many  pat- 
ents were  granted  in  1882  and  1883. 


FIG.  66. — STORAGE  BATTERY — FAURE  TYPE. 

The  storage  battery  finds  many  important  applications.  For  furnish- 
ing current  for  the  propulsion  of  electric  street  cars  it  has  proved  a  disap- 
pointment, on  account  of  the  vibrations  to  which  it  is  subjected,  and  the 
great  weight  of  the  lead,  which  in  batteries  of  suitable  capacity 
runs  up  into  many  thousands  of  pounds.  The  storage  battery  finds  a  use- 
ful place,  however,  for  equalizing  the  load  in  lighting  and  power  stations, 
and  is  there  brought  into  action  to  supplement  the  engine  and  dynamo  dur- 
ing those  hours  of  the  day  when  the  tax  or  load  is  greatest.  It  is  also  used 
to  keep  up  electrical  pressure  at  the  ends  of  long  transmission  lines ;  for 
telegraphing  purposes ;  for  isolated  electric  lighting ;  for  boat  propulsion ; 
the  propulsion  of  automobile  carriages ;  and  in  all  cases  where  a  portable 
source  of  electric  current  would  find  application.  The  great  growth  of 
automobile  carriages  in  the  past  year  has  greatly  stimulated  the  output  of 
storage  batteries.  One  large  company  (The  Electric  Storage  Battery 


/Ar  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


91 


Company),  manufactured  and  sold  storage  batteries  for  the  year  ending 
June  i,  1899,  to  the  amount  of  $2,387,049.91,  and  there  are  many  other 
manufacturers. 

Electric  Welding  was  invented  by  Prof.  Elihu  Thomson,  of  Lynn, 
Mass.,  and  patented  by  him  August  10,  1886,  No.  347,140-42,  and  July  18, 
1893,  No.  501,546.  It  is  useful  for  the  making  of  chains,  tools,  carriage 
axles,  joining  shafting,  wires,  and  pipes,  mending  bands,  tires,  hoops,  and 


FIG.  67. — ELECTRIC  WELDING. 

lengthening  and  shortening  bolts,  bars,  etc.  For  electric  welding  a  cur- 
rent of  great  volume  or  quantity,  and  very  low  electro-motive  force,  is  re- 
quired. Thus  a  current  of  from  one  to  two  volts,  and  one  to  several  thou- 
sand amperes,  is  best  suited.  Referring  to  Fig.  67,  the  current  from  the 
dynamo  is  conducted  to  one  binding  post  of  the  commutator  3,  which  is 
arranged  to  send  the  current  through  one-sixth,  one-third  or  one-half  of 
the  primary  wire  P  of  a  transformer  or  induction  coil.  The  other  binding 
post  of  the  commutator  3  extends  to  one  terminal  of  an  isolated  primary 


92 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


coil  4,  and  the  other  terminal  of  this  coil  connects  with  the  dynamo.  The 
coil  4  is  provided  with  a  switch  to  regulate  the  amount  of  current.  The 
rods  to  be  welded  are  placed  in  clamps  C  C,  C  being  connected  with  one 
terminal  of  the  secondary  conductor  S,  and  the  movable  clamp  C  with  the 
other.  When  the  current  is  turned  on  C'  is  moved  so  as  to  project  one  of 
the  surfaces  to  be  welded  against  the  other,  and  as  they  come  in  contact 
they  heat  and  fuse  together,  as  shown  at  W.  Larger  apparatus  has  been 
devised  to  weld  railroad  joints  on  the  roadbed,  and  for  other  applications. 

The  generation  of  elec- 
tricity for  commerical  pur- 
poses is  almost  entirely  de- 
pendent upon  the  dynamo, 
as  this  is  cheaper  than  the 
voltaic  battery.  The  dyna- 
mo, however,  must  be  en- 
ergized by  a  steam  engine. 
The  direct  production  of 
electric  energy  by  the  com- 
bustion of  coal  would  be 
the  ideal  method.  A  pro- 
cess invented  by  Edison 
(Pat.  No.  49°>953>  Jan-  31. 
1893),  is  interesting  as  an 
effort  in  this  direction,  and 
is  presented  in  Fig.  68.  A 
carbon  cylinder  D  is  sus- 
pended in  an  air-tight  ves- 
sel B,  and  is  surrounded  by 
oxide  of  iron  F,  the  whole 
being  placed  above  a  fur- 
nace. The  temperature  being  raised  to  a  point  where  the  carbon  will  be 
attacked  by  the  oxygen,  carbonic  oxide  and  carbonic  acid  will  be  formed, 
which  are  exhausted  by  the  suction  fan  E.  A  constant  current  of  elec- 
tricity is  given  off  from  the  two  electrodes  through  the  wires,  the  metallic 
oxide  being  reduced  and  the  carbon  consumed. 

Electrical  Navigation  began  with  Jacobi,  who  made  the  first  attempt 
on  the  Neva  in  1839.  He  used  voltaic  apparatus  consisting  of  two  Grove 
batteries,  each  containing  sixty-four  pairs  of  cells,  but  little  progress  was 
made  in  this  field  until  the  secondary  battery  was  perfected.  In  1881  Mr. 
G.  Trouve  made  an  application  of  the  storage  battery  and  electric  motor 


FIG.  68. — GENERATION  OF  ELECTRICITY 
BY  COMBUSTION. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


93 


to  a  small  boat  on  the  Seine.  The  electric  motor,  which  was  located  on. 
top  of  the  rudder,  as  seen  in  Fig.  69,  was  furnished  with  a  Siemens  arma- 
ture connected  by  an  endless  belt  with  a  screw  propeller  having  three 
paddles  arranged  in  the  middle  of  an  iron  rudder.  In  the  middle  of  the 
boat  were  two  storage  batteries  connected  with  the  motor  by  two  cords 
that  both  served  to  cover  the  conducting  wires  and  work  the  rudder. 
Electric  launches  have  in  later  years  rapidly  gained  in  popularity.  Vis- 
itors to  the  Chicago  fair 
will  remember  the  fleet  of 
electric  launches,  which  af- 
forded both  pleasure  and 
transportation  on  the 
water,  at  that  great  expo- 
sition, and  to-day  every 
safe  harbor  has  its  quota  of 
these  silently  gliding  and 
fascinating  pleasure  crafts. 
Fig .  70  is  a  longitudinal 
section  and  a  general  view 
of  one  of  these  launches. 

Electro-plating  is  one 
of  the  great  industrial  ap- 
plications of  electrictiy 
which  had  its  origin  in, 
and  has  grown  into  exten- 
sive use  in,  the  Nineteenth 
Century.  It  originated 
with  Volta,  Cruikshank, 
and  Wollaston  in  the  very 
first  year  of  the  century. 
In  1805  Brugnatelli,  a  pu- 
pil of  Volta,  gilded  two 
large  silver  medals  by 
bringing  them  into  communication  by  means  of  a  steel  wire  with  the  nega- 
tive pole  of  a  voltaic  pile  and  keeping  them  one  after  the  other  immersed 
in  a  solution  of  gold.  In  1834  Henry  Bessemer  electro-plated  lead  cast- 
ings with  copper  in  the  production  of  antique  relief  heads.  In  1838  Prof. 
Jacobi  announced  his  galvano-plastic  process  for  the  production  of  elec- 
trotype plates  for  printing.  In  the  same  year  he  superintended  the  gilding, 
by  electro-plate,  of  the  iron  dome  of  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Isaac  at  St. 


FIG.  69. — RUDDER  AND   MOTOR  OF  TROUVE/S 
ELECTRIC  BOAT,    l88l. 


94 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INTENTION 


i   R 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


95 


Petersburg,  using  274  pounds  of  ducat  gold.  In  1839  Spencer  described 
an  electrotype  process  and  carried  the  date  of  his  operations  back  to  Sep- 
tember, 1837.  In  1839  Jordan  also  describes  an  electro-plating  process. 
In  1840  Murray  used  plumbago  to  make  non-conducting  surfaces  conduc- 
tive for  electro-plating.  In  1840  De  Le  Rive  made  known  his  process  of 
electro-gilding,  employed  by  him  in  1828,  and  in  the  same  year  ( 1840) 


FIG.   71. — ELECTRO- PLATING  ESTABLISHMENT. 

De  Ruolz  took  out  a  French  patent  for  electro-gilding,  and  in  the  follow- 
ing year  formed  electro  deposits  of  brass  from  cyanides  of  zinc  and  copper. 
In  1841  Smee  employed  his  battery  for  electro-plating  with  various  metals. 
In  1844  there  were  published  the  electro-plating  experiments  of  Dancer, 
made  in  1838.  In  1847  Prof.  Silliman  imitated  mother-of-pearl  by  electro- 
plating process. 

In  the  last  half  of  the  century  the  production  of  electrotype  plates  for 
printing  in  books,  and  for  the  production  of  rollers  for  printing  fabrics, 
and  the  extensive  art  of  electro-plating  with  gold,  silver,  nickel  and  cop- 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


per,  has  grown  to  enormous  proportions,  but  the  fundamental  principles 
have  not  materially  changed.  The  dynamo,  however,  has  generally  sup- 
planted the  voltaic  battery  in  this  art.  The  deposition  of  silver  and  gold 
on  baser  metals  not  only  increases  the  ornamental  effect,  but  prevents  oxi- 
dation. Silver  plated  goods  for  the  table  and  articles  of  vertu  are  to  be 
found  everywhere.  Nickel  is  employed  for  cheaper  ornamental  effect,  and 
copper  finds  a  large  application  for  electrotypes  for  printing  and  for  coat- 
ing iron  castings  as  a  protection  against  rust.  In  Fig.  71,  which  shows  the 
interior  of  an  electro-plating  establishment,  the  dynamo  is  shown  on  the 
right  connected  by  wires  with  two  horizontal  rods  running  along 
the  wall  and  across  the  various  tanks  containing  the  plating 

solution.  On  the  tanks  are  rods 
supporting  the  articles  to  be  plated, 
which  are  suspended  in  the  solu- 
tion. Similar  rods  support  the  op- 
posite electrodes  of  the  tank. 
Wires  connect  these  rods  to  the 
rods  on  the  side  of  the  wall,  and  to 
the  opposite  poles  of  the  dynamo. 

The  electric  pen  of  Edison, 
brought  out  in  1876  (U.  S.  Pat. 
No.  196,747,  Nov.  6,  1877),  is  one 
of  the  simple  applications  of  elec- 
tricity, which  for  a  number  of  years 
was  m  quite  general  use  for  mak- 
ing manifold  copies  of  manuscript. 
In  the  illustration,  Fig.  72,  this  is 
FIG.  72.-EDisoN's  ELECTRIC  PEN.  shown  It  COmprises  a  stylus  b 
reciprocated  in  a  tube  a  by  the  vibratory  action  of  an  armature  k 
over  the  poles  of  an  electro-magnet,  supplied  with  a  suitable  current  and 
vibrating  contacts  /  h.  The  stylus  was  rapidly  reciprocated,  and  as  the 
operator  traced  the  letters  on  the  paper,  the  stylus  produced  a  continuous 
trail  of  punctures  which  permitted  the  paper  to  be  used  as  a  stencil  to  make 
any  number  of  copies.  It  has,  however,  been  rotated  out  of  existence  by 
manifolding  carbon  paper,  and  the  almost  universal  use  of  the  typewriter. 

Electricity  in  Medicine. — The  superstitious  mind  is  prone  to  resort  to 
mysterious  agencies  for  the  cure  of  diseases,  and  for  many  years  men  of 
no  scientific  knowledge  whatever  have  been  employing  this  seductive  in- 
strumentality for  all  the  ills  that  flesh  is  heir  to.  That  it  has  valuable 
therapeutic  qualities  when  rightly  applied  no  intelligent  person  will  doubt, 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


97 


and  it  is  unfortunate  that  for  the  most  part  it  has  been  in  the  hands  of 
charlatans  who  sell  their  wares,  and  rely  upon  a  faith-cure  principle  for 
the  result.  Still  there  have  been  intelligent  experimenters  in  this  field,  and 
it  is  one  of  much  promise  for  further  research. 

In  the  first  century  of  the  Christian  Era  (A.  D.  50)  Scribonius  Largus 
relates  that  Athero,  a  freedman  of  Tiberius,  was  cured  of 
the  gout  by  the  shocks  of  the  torpedo  or  electric  eel.  In 
1803  M.  Carpue  published  experiments  on  the  therapeu- 
tic action  of  electricity.  The  discovery  of  inductio^  cur- 
rents by  Faraday  in  1831  brought  a  new  era  in  the  med«- 
cal  application  of  electricity,  in  the  use  of  what  is  known 
as  the  Faradaic  current.  The  first  apparatus  for  medi- 
cal use,  which  operated  on  this  principle,  was  made 
by  M.  Pixii  in  France,  and  the  first  physician  who  em- 
ployed such  currents  was  Dr.  Neef,  of  Frankfort.  The 
medical  battery  is  a  well-known  and  useful  adjunct  to 
the  physician's  outfit.  Electric  baths  are  also  common 
and  effective  modes  of  applying  the  electric  current.  An 
early  example  of  such  a  device  is  shown  in  the  U.  S.  pat- 
ent to  Young,  No.  32,332,  May  14,  1861.  The  electric 
cautery  and  probe  are  also  scientific  and  useful  instru- 
ments. The  cautery  consists  of  a  loop  of  platinum  wire 
carried  by  a  suitable  non-conducting  handle,  with  means 
for  constricting  the  white  hot  loop  of  wire  about  the  tu- 
mor or  object  to  be  excised.  It  was  invented  in  1846  by 
Crusell,  of  St.  Petersburg!!.  A  form  of  the  electric  cau- 
tery is  shown  in  Fig.  73,  in  which  a  is  the  platinum  wire 
loop  whose  branches  slide  through  guide  tubes,  the  ends 
being  atached  to  a  sliding  ring  B.  The  current  enters 
through  the  wire  at  the  binding  posts  at  the  end  of  non- 
conducting handle  A,  and  heats  the  platinum  loop,  a, 

red  hot.     The  loop,  a,  being  around  the  object  to  be  ex-  FIG.  73. ELECTRIC 

cised,    is    constricted    by    drawing    down    the    handle          CAUTERY. 
ring  B. 

Of  the  various  applications  of  electricity  in  body  wear  and  appliances 
there  is  scarcely  any  end.  There  are  patents  for  belts  without  number,  for 
electric  gloves,  rings,  bracelets,  necklaces,  trusses,  corsets,  shoes,  hats, 
combs,  brushes,  chairs,  couches,  and  blankets.  Patents  have  also  been 
granted  for  electric  smelling  bottles,  an  adhesive  plaster,  for  electric 
spectacles,  scissors,  a  foot  warmer,  hair  singer,  syringes,  a  drinking  cup, 


9b 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INDENTION 


a  hair  cutter,  a  torch,  a  catheter,  a  pessary,  gas  lighters,  exercising  de- 
vices, a  door  mat,  and  even  for  an  electric  hair  pin  and  a  pair  of  electric 
garters. 

Electrical  Musical  Instruments  include  pianos,  banjos,  and  violins,  all 
of  which  are  to  be  played  automatically  by  the  aid  of  electrical  appliances. 
In  the  illustration,  Fig.  74,  is  shown  a  modern  electrical  piano.  A  small 
electrical  motor  1,  run  by  a  storage  battery  or  electric  light  wires,  turns  a 


FIG.    74. — ELECTRIC   PIANO. 

belt  3,  and  rotates  pulley  4  and  a  long  horizontal  cylinder  5  running  be- 
neath the  keyboard.  Above  this  cylinder  is  the  mechanism  that  acts  upon 
the  keys.  It  consists  of  a  series  of  brake  shoes  which,  when  brought  into 
frictional  contact  with  the  cylinder  5,  are  made  to  act  on  small  vertical  rods 
which  bring  down  the  keys  just  as  the  fingers  do  in  playing.  The  selection 
of  the  proper  keys  is  made  by  a  traveling  strip  of  paper  perforated  with 
dots  and  dashes  representing  the  notes,  which  strip  of  paper  passes  be- 
tween two  metal  contact  faces,  whch  are  terminals  of  an  electric  battery. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  99 

When  the  contacts  are  separated  by  the  non-conducting  paper  the  current 
does  not  flow,  but  when  the  contacts  come  together  through  the  perfor- 
ations the  current  is  completed  through  an  electro-magnet,  and  this  is  made 
to  bring  the  proper  brake  shoe  into  position  to  be  lifted  by  the  cylinder  5, 
which  rotates  constantly. 

Electro-blasting. — In  1812  Schilling  proposed  to  blow  up  mines  by  the 
galvanic  current.  In  1839  Colonel  Pasley  blew  up  the  wreck  of  the 
"Royal  George"  by  electro-blasting.  On  Jan.  26,  1843,  ^r-  Cubitt  used 
electro-blasting  to  destroy  Round  Down  Cliff,  and  in  our  own  time  the 
extensive  excavations  in  deepening  the  channel  and  removing  the  rocks 
at  Hell  Gate,  from  the  mouth  of  New  York  harbor,  was  a  notable  opera- 
tion in  electro-blasting,  and  doubtless  owes  its  success  largely  to  the  elec- 
tric current  employed. 

Only  the  briefest  mention  can  be  made  of  the  induction  coil  and  the 
electrical  transformer,  of  electric  bells  and  hotel  annunciators,  of  electric 
railway  signalling,  and  electric  brakes,  of  electric  clocks  and  instruments 
of  precision,  of  heating  by  electricity,  of  electrical  horticulture,  and  of  the 
beautiful  electric  fountains.  These,  however,  all  belong  to  the  Nineteenth 
Century,  and  include  interesting  developments. 

Electro-chemistry  and  the  electrolytic  refining  of  metals  represent  also, 
in  the  applications  of  electricity,  a  large  and  important  field,  more  fully 
treated  under  the  chapters  devoted  to  chemistry  and  metal  working. 


100  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


CHAPTER   X. 

THE  STEAM   ENGINE. 

HERO'S  ENGINE,  AND  OTHER  EARLY  STEAM  ENGINES — WATT'S  STEAM  ENGINE — THE 
CUT-OFF — GIFFARD  INJECTOR — BOURDON'S  STEAM  GAUGE — FEED-WATER  HEATERS, 
SMOKE  CONSUMERS,  ETC. — ROTARY  ENGINES — STEAM  HAMMER — STEAM  FIRE 
ENGINE — COMPOUND  ENGINES — SCHLICK  AND  TAYLOR  SYSTEMS  OF  BALANCING 
MOMENTUM  OF  MOVING  PARTS — STATISTICS. 

WHEN  the  primeval  man  first  turned  upon  himself  the  critical 
light  of  introspection,  and  observed  his  own  deficiencies,  there 
were  born  within  him  both  the  desire  and  the  determination  to 
supplement  his  weakness,  and  become  the  ruling  factor  in  the 
world's  destiny.  The  strength  of  his  arm  unaided  could  not  cope  with 
that  of  the  wild  bea.st,  he  could  not  travel  so  fast  as  the  animal,  nor  soar  so 
high  as  the  bird,  nor  traverse  the  waters  of  the  sea  like  the  fish.  The  mag- 
nificent power  of  the  elements  first  inspired  him  with  awe,  then  was  wor- 
shiped as  a  god,  and  he  trembled  in  his  weakness.  Then  he  began  to  in- 
vent, and  seeing  in  physical  laws  an  escape  from  his  fears,  and  a  solution 
for  his  ambitions,  he  trained  these  forces  and  made  them  subservient  to  his 
will,  and  established  his  right  to  rule.  Out  of  the  maze  of  the  centuries  a 
steam  engine  is  born — not  all  at  once,  for  that  would  be  inconsistent  with 
the  law  of  evolution — but  gradually  growing  first  into  practicability,  then 
into  efficiency,  and  finally  into  perfection,  it  stands  to-day  a  beautiful 
monument  of  man's  ingenuity,  throbbing  wkh  life  and  energy,  and  moving 
the  world.  What  has  not  the  steam  engine  done  for  the  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury? It  speeds  the  locomotive  across  the  continent  faster  and  farther 
than  the  birds  can  fly ;  no  fish  can  equal  the  mighty  steamship  on  the 
sea ;  it  grinds  our  grain ;  it  weaves  our  cloth ;  it  prints  our  books ;  it 
forges  our  steel,  and  in  every  department  of  life  it  is  the  ubiquitous, 
tireless,  potent  agency  of  civilization.  Does  the  ambitious  young  philoso- 
pher predict  that  electricity  will  supersede  steam  ?  It  is  not  yet  a  rational 
prophecy,  for  the  direct  production  of  electricity  from  the  combustion  of 
coal  is  still  an  unsolved  problem,  and  behind  the  electric  generator  can 
always  be  found  the  steam  engine,  modestly  and  quietly  giving  its  full 
life's  work  to  the  dynamo,  which  it  actuates,  and  caring  nothing  for  the 
credit,  unmindful  of  the  beautiful  and  striking  manifestations  of  elec- 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


101 


tricity  which  astonish  the  world,  but  humbly  doing  its  duty  with  a  silent 
faith  that  the  law  of  correlation  of  force  will  always  lead  the  way  back  to 
the  steam  engine,  and  place  it  where  it  belongs,  at  the  head  of  all  useful 
agencies  of  man. 

The  Nineteenth  Century  did  not  include  in  its  discoveries  the  inven- 
tion of  the  steam  engine.  The  great  gift  of  James  Watt  was  one  of  the 
legacies  which  it  received  from  the  past,  but  the  economical,  efficient, 
graceful,  and  mathemati- 
cally perfect  engine  of  to- 
day is  the  product  of  this 
age. 

The  genesis  of  the 
steam  engine  belongs  to 
ancient  history,  for  in  the 
year  150  B.  C.  Hero  made 
and  exhibited  in  the  Sera- 
penm  of  Alexandria  the 
first  steam  engine.  It  was 
of  the  rotary  type  and  was 
known  as  the  "aeolipile." 
During  the  middle  ages 
the  spirit  of  invention 
seems  to  have  slept,  for 
nearly  eighteen  centuries 
passed  from  the  time  of 
Hero's  engine  before  any 
active  revival  of  interest 
was  manifested  in  this 
field  of  invention.  Giovanni 
Branca  in  1629,  the  Mar- 
quis of  Worcester  in  1633, 
Dr.  Papin  in  1695,  Savary 
in  1698,  and  Newcomen  in 
were  the  pioneers 


FIG.    75. — HERO'S   ENGINE,    ISO  B.    C. 


of  Watt,  and  gave  to  him  a  good  working  basis.  Strange  as  it  may  ap- 
pear, there  was  in  1894  and  probably  still  is  in  existence  in  England  an  old 
Newcomen  steam  engine  (see  Fig.  76),  which  for  at  least  a  hundred  years 
has  stood  exposed  to  the  weather,  slowly  rusting  and  crumbling  away.  It 
is  to  be  found  in  Fairbottom  Valley,  half  way  between  Ashton-under-Lyne 
and  Oldham,  and  is  the  property  of  the  trustees  of  the  late  Earl  of  Stam- 


102  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

ford  and  Warrington.  It  is  erected  on  a  solid  masonry  pillar  14  by  7  feet 
at  the  base,  which  carries  on  its  top,  on  trunnions,  an  oak  beam  20  feet 
long  and  12  by  14  inches  thick.  This  beam  is  braced  with  iron,  and  has 
segmental  ends  with  a  piston  at  one  end,  and  a  balance  weight  at  the  other. 
The  piston  and  pump  rods  are  attached  by  chains.  The  cylinder  is  of  cast 


FIG.    76. — OLD   NEWCOMEN   ENGINE. 

iron,  27  inches  in  diameter,  and  about  six  foot  stroke,  the  steam  entering 
at  the  bottom  only.    It  was  formerly  used  for  pumping  a  mine. 

The  distinct  and  valuable  legacy,  however,  which  the  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury received  from  the  past,  was  the  double  acting  steam  engine  of  James 
Watt,  disclosed  in  his  British  Pat.  No.  1,321,  of  1782.  Prior  to  this  date 
steam  engines  had  been  almost  exclusively  confined  to  raising  water,  but 
with  the  invention  of  Watt  it  extended  into  all  fields  of  industrial  use. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


103 


Watt's  double  acting  engine  is  shown  in  P"ig.  77.     It  comprised  a  cylinder 

A.  with   double  acting  piston  and  valve  gear  E   F   G  H;   the  parallel 
motion  R  for  translating  the  reciprocating  motion  of  the  piston  into  the 
curved  oscillatory  path  of  the  walking  beam ;  a  condenser  chamber  K. 
with  spray  I,  for  condensing  the  exhaust  steam ;  a  pump  L  J  to  remove 
the  water  from  the  condenser,  and  also  the  air,  which  is  drawn  out  of 
the  water  by  the 

vacuum ;  a  water 
supply  pump  N ; 
the  automatic 
ball  governor  D, 
and  throttle  valve 

B.  Two  pins  on 
the  pump    rod    L 
strike  the  lever  H 
and      work       the 
valve  gear,  and  a 
collecting    rod    P 
and  crank  O  con- 
vert   the    oscilla- 
tions of  the  walk- 
ing beam  into  the  <*#j 
continuous     rota-  '  S|':"i- 
tion     of     the     fly 
wheel. 

Watt's  auto- 
matic ball  govern- 
or is  shown  in 
Fig.  78  and  its 
function  is  as  fol- 
lows :  When  the 
working  strain  on 
an  engine  is  re- 

1  i  e  v  e  d    bv    the  FIG'  ^ — WATT'S  DOUBLE  ACTING  STEAM  ENGINE. 

throwing  out  of  action  of  a  part  of  the  work  being  performed,  the  engine 
would  run  too  fast,  or  if  more  than  a  normal  tax  were  placed  on  the  en- 
gine, it  would  "slow  up."  To  secure  a  regular  and  uniform  motion  in 
the  performance  of  his  engine  Watt  invented  the  automatic  or  self-regu- 
lating ball  governor  and  throttle  valve.  A  vertical  shaft  D  is  rotated 
constantly  by  a  band  on  pulley  d.  Any  tendency  in  the  engine  to  run  too 


104 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


fast  throws  the  balls  up  by  centrifugal  action,  and  this  through  toggle 
links  f  h,  pulls  down  on  a  lever  F  G  H,  and  partially  closes  the  throttle 
valve  Z,  reducing  the  flow  of  steam  to  the  engine.  When  the  engine  has 
a  tendency  to  run  too  slow  the  balls  drop  down,  and,  deflecting  the  lever 
in  the  opposite  direction,  open  the  throttle  valve,  and  increase  the  flow 
Dn  ~  of  steam  to  the  engine. 

This  double  acting  en- 
gine of  Watt  marks  the 
beginning  of  the  great 
epoch  of  steam  engi- 
neering, and  his  patent 
expired  just  in  time  to 
give  to  the  Nineteenth 
Century  the  greatest  of 

a11  natal  gifts- 

Steam     engines     are 

<livided  into  two  Prin- 

cipal  classes,  the  low 
pressure  engine,  using 
steam  usually  under  40 
pounds  to  the  square 
inch,  and  the  high 
pressure  engine,  using  steam  from  50  to  200  pounds.  In  the  low 
pressure  engine  there  is  the  expansive  pressure  of  the  steam  on  one  side 
of  the  piston,  aided  by  the  suction  of  a  vacuum  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
piston,  which  vacuum  is  created  by  the  condensation  of  the  discharging, 
or  exhaust  steam,  by  cold  water.  As  there  are  two  factors  at  work  im- 
pelling the  piston,  only  a  relatively  low 
pressure  in  the  boiler  is  required.  In 
the  high  pressure  engines  there  is  no 
condensation  of  the  exhaust  steam,  but 
it  is  discharged  directly  into  the  air, 
and  this  type  was  originally  called 
"puffers."  Familiar  examples  of  the 
low  pressure  type  are  to  be  found  in 
our  side  wheel  passenger  steamers,  and  of  the  high  pressure  type  in  the 
steam  locomotive. 

One  of  the  most  important  steps  in  the  development  of  the  steam 
engine  was  the  addition  of  the  cut-off.  Prior  to  its  adoption  steam  was 
admitted  to  the  cylinder  during  the  whole  time  the  piston  was  making 


FIG.  78. — WATT'S  AUTOMATIC  GOVERNOR  AND 
THROTTLE  VALVE. 


FIG.   7Q. — PRINCIPLE  OF  CUT-OFF. 


7,V  THE  NINETEENTH  CIIXTURY. 


105 


its  stroke  from  one  end  of  the  cylinder  to  the  other.  In  the  cut-off  (see 
Fig.  79),  when  steam  is  being  admitted  through  the  port  p,  and  the  piston 
is  being  driven  in  the  direction  of  the  arrow,  it  was  found  that  if  the 
steam  were  cut  off  when  the  piston  arrived  at  the  position  i,  the  ex- 
pansive action  of  the  steam  behind  it  in  chamber  a  would  continue  to 
carry  the  piston  with  an  effective  force 
to  the  end  of  its  stroke,  or  to  position 
2.  This  of  course  effected  a  great  sav- 
ing in  steam.  Various  cut-offs  have 
been  devised.  Perhaps  that  most  easily 
recognized  by  most  persons  is  the  one 
seen  in  the  engine  room  of  our  side 
wheel  steamers,  of  which  illustration  is 
given  in  Fig.  80.  This  was  invented 
in  1841  by  F.  E.  Sickels,  and  was  the 
first  successful  drop  cut-off.  It  was 
covered  by  his  patents,  May  20,  1842 : 
July  20,  1843  '•>  October  19,  1844,  No. 
3,802,  and  September  19,  1845,  No. 
4,201.  A  rock  shaft  s  is  worked  by  an 
eccentric  rod  e  from  the  paddle  wheel 
shaft.  The  rock  shaft  has  lifting  arms 
a  that  act  upon  and  alternately  raise 
the  feet  c  on  rods  b  b.  One  of  these 
rods  b  works  the  valves  that  admit 
steam,  and  the  other  the  valves  that 
discharge  steam.  The  valve  rod  that 
admits  steam  has  a  quick  drop,  or  fall, 
to  cut  off  the  live  steam  before  the  pis- 
ton reaches  the  end  of  its  stroke.  In 
Fig.  8 1  is  shown  the  celebrated  Corliss 
cut-off,  and  valve  gear,  in  which  a  cen- 
tral wrist  plate  and  four  radiating  rods 
work  the  valves.  This  valve  gear  was 

covered  in  Corliss  patents,  No.  6,162,  March  10,  1849,  anfl  No.  8,253,  July 
29,  1851. 

Among  other  important  improvements  in  the  steam  engine  are  those 
for  replenishing  the  water  in  the  boiler,  and  the  Giffard  Injector  is  the 
simplest  and  most  ingenious  of  all  boiler  feeds.  It  was  invented  in  1858 
and  covered  by  French  patent  No.  21,457,  May  8,  1858,  and  U.  S.  patent 


FIG.  80.— SICKEL'S  DROP  CUT-OFF 
VALVE  GEAR. 


106  THE   PROGRESS   OI;   INVENTION 

Xo.  27,979,  April  24,  1860.  Prior  to  the  Giffard  Injector,  steam  boilers 
were  supplied  with  water  usually  by  steam  pumps,  which  forced  the 
water  into  the  boiler  against  the  pressure  of  the  steam.  The  Giffard 
Injector  takes  a  jet  of  steam  from  the  boiler,  and  causes  it  to  lift  the 
water  in  an  external  pipe,  and  blow  it  directly  into  the  boiler  against  its 
own  pressure.  So  paradoxical  and  inoperative  did  this  seem  at  first  that 
it  was  met  with  incredulity,  and  not  until  repeated  demonstrations  estab- 


FIG.  8l.— CORLISS  CUT-OFF  AND  VALVE  GEAR. 

lished  the  fact  was  it  accepted  as  an  operative  device.  Its  construction 
is  shown  in  Fig.  82.  A  is  a  steam  pipe  communicating  with  the  boiler, 
B  another  pipe  receiving  steam  from  A  through  small  holes  and  termi- 
nating in  a  cone.  C  is  a  screw  rod,  cone-shaped  at  its  extremity,  turned 
by  the  crank  M,  and  serving  to  regulate  and  even  intercept  the  passage 
of  steam.  D  is  a  water  suction  pipe.  The  water  that  is  drawn  up  intro- 
duces itself  around  the  steam  pipe  and  tends  to  make  its  exit  through  the 
annular  space  at  the  conical  extremity  of  the  latter  steam  pipe.  This 
annular  space  is  increased  at  will  by  means  of  the  lever  L,  which  acts 
upon  a  screw  whose  office  is  to  cause  the  pipe  B  and  its  attached  parts  to 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


107 


move  backward  or  forward.  E  is  a  diverging  tube  which  receives  the 
water  injected  by  the  jet  of  steam  that  condenses  at  I,  and  imparts  to  the 
water  a  portion  of  its  speed  in  proportion  to  the  pressure  of  the  boiler. 
F  is  a  box  carrying  a  check  valve  to  keep  the  water  from  issuing  from 
the  boiler  when  the  apparatus  is  not  at  work.  G  is  a  pipe  that  leads  the 
injected  water  to  the  boiler.  H  is  a  purge  or  overflow  pipe,  K  a  sight 
hole  which  permits  the  operation  of  the  apparatus  to  be  watched,  the 
stream  of  water  being  distinctly  seen  in  the  free  interval.  Fig.  83  shows 


FIG.  82. — GIFFARD  INJECTOR. 

the  application  of  the  injector  to  locomotives,  which  are  now  almost  uni- 
versally supplied  with  this  device. 

To  keep  the  pressure  in  the  boiler  within  the  limit  of  safety,  and  ad- 
justed to  the  work  being  performed,  is  an  important  part  of  the  engineer's 
duty,  and  this  he  could  not  do  without  the  steam  gauge.  One  of  the  best 
known  is  the  Bourdon  gauge,  shown  in  Fig.  84,  constructed  on  the  prin- 
ciple of  the  barometer  invented  by  Bourdon  of  Paris  in  1849  and  patented 
in  France  June,  1849,  and  in  the  United  States  August  3,  1852,  No.  9,163. 
A  screw  threaded  thimble  B,  with  stop  cock  A,  is  screwed  in  the  shell  of 
the  boiler,  and  a  coiled  pipe  C  communicates  at  one  end  with  the  thimble 
and  is  closed  at  the  other  end  E  and  connected  by  a  link  F,  with  an  arm 
on  an  axle,  carrying  an  index  hand  that  moves  over  a  graduated  scale. 


108 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


The  coiled  pipe  C  is  in  the  nature  of  a  flattened  tube,  as  shown  in  the  en- 
larged cross  section,  and  is  enclosed  in  a  case.  When  the  steam  pressure 
varies  in  this  flat  tube  its  coil  expands  or  contracts,  and  in  moving  the 
index  hand  over  the  scale  indicates  the  degree  of  pressure. 

In  line  with  the 
development  of  the 
steam  engine  must  be 
considered  the  efforts 
to  economize  fuel. 
These  may  be  di- 
vided into  the  follow- 
ing classes :  Increased 
steam  generating  sur- 
face in  boiler  con- 
struction ;  surface 
condensers  for  ex- 
haust steam ;  devices 
for  promoting  the  FIG  83.— INJECTOR  ON  LOCOMOTIVE. 

combustion     of    fuel 

and  burning  the  smoke,  and  feed  water  heaters.  Even  before  the  Xine- 
tenth  Century  Smeaton  devised  the  cylindrical  boiler  traversed  by  a  flue, 
but  the  multitubular  steam  boiler  of  to-day  represents  a  very  important 
Nineteenth  Century  adjunct  to  the  steam  engine. 
Our  locomotives,  fire  engines,  and  torpedo  boat  en- 
gines would  be  of  no  value  without  it.  Sectional 
steam  boilers  made  in  detachable  portions  fast- 
ened together  by  packed  or  screw  joints  also  rep- 
resent an  important  development.  These  permit 
of  the  removal  and  replacement  of  any  one  section 
that  may  become  defective,  and  are  also  capable 
of  being  built  up  section  by  section  to  any  size 
needed.  For  promoting  the  combustion  of  fuel 
the  draft  is  energized  by  blasts  of  air  or  steam,  or 
both,  either  through  hollow  grate  bars,  jet  pipes 
in  the  fire  box,  or  by  discharging  the  exhaust 
steam  in  the  smoke  pipe.  Surface  condensers 
pass  the  exhaust  steam  over  the  great  surface 

area  of  a  multitubular  construction  having  cold  water  flowing  through  it. 
Feed  water  heaters  utilize  the  waste  heat  escaping  in  the  smoke  flue  to 
heat  the  water  that  is  being  fed  to  the  boiler,  so  that  it  is  warm  when  it  is 


FIG.  84. — BOURDON'S 
PRESSURE  GAUGE. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


109 


injected    into    the    boiler,    and    the    furnace    is    relieved    of    that    much 
work. 

In  the  reciprocating  type  of  steam  engine  the  inertia  of  the  piston 


FIG.  85.— BRANCA'S  STEAM  TURBINE,  1629. 

must  be  overcome  at  the  beginning  of  each  stroke  and  its  momentum 
must  be  arrested  at  the  end  of  each  stroke,  and  this  involves  a  great  loss 
of  power.  If  the  power  of  the  steam  could  be  applied  so  as  to  contin- 


uously  move  the  piston  in  the  same  direction  this  loss  would  be  avoided. 
The  effort  to  do  this  has  engaged  the  attention  of  many  inventors,  and 
the  devices  are  called  rotary  engines.  The  most  successful  engines  of 


no 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


this  kind  are  those  of  the  impact  type,  in  which  jets  of  steam  impinge 
upon  buckets  after  the  manner  of  water  on  a  water  wheel,  and  which 
are  known  to-day  as  steam  turbines.  The  earliest  of  these  is  Branca's 
steam  turbine  of  1629  (see  Fig.  85)  and  the  most  important  of  this  class 
in  use  to-day  are  those  of  Mr.  Parsons,  of  England,  and  De  Laval,  of 
Sweden.  The  internal  construction  of  the  Parsons  turbine  is  seen  in 
Fig.  86  and  is  covered  by  British  patent  No.  10,940,  of  1891,  and  United 

States  patent  No.  553,658, 
January  28th,  1896.  A  series 
of  turbines  are  set  one  after 
the  other  on  the  same  axis,  so 
that  each  takes  steam  from 
the  preceding  one,  and  passes 
it  on  to  the  next.  Each  con- 
sists of  a  ring  of  fixed  steam 
guides  on  the  casing,  and  a 
ring  of  moving  blades  on  the 
shaft.  The  steam  passes 
through  the  first  set  of  guides, 
then  through  the  first  set  of 
moving  blades,  then  through 
the  second  set  of  guides,  and 
then  through  the  second  set 
of  moving  blades,  and  so  on. 
In  the  application  of  his 
turbine  to  marine  propulsion 
Mr.  Parsons  employs  a  plu- 
rality of  propeller  shafts  and 
steam  turbines,  as  seen  in 
Fig.  87,  and  covered  under 
United  States  patent  No.  608,- 
969,  August  9,  1898. 

The  De  Laval  turbine,  as  shown  in  Fig.  88,  is  of  very  simple  con- 
struction, consisting  only  of  a  steel  wheel  with  a  series  of  buckets  at  its 
periphery  enclosed  by  a  circular  rim,  and  a  series  of  steam  nozzles  on 
the  side  with  diverging  jet  orifices  directing  steam  jets  against  the 
buckets.  A  speed  of  30,000  revolutions  a  minute  may  be  attained  by  this 
construction.  In  Fig.  89  is  shown  a  300  horse-power  steam  turbine  of 
the  De  Laval  type  applied  to  a  dynamo;  to  which  this  type  of  engine  is 
peculiarly  adapted.  The  dynamo  is  seen  on  the  extreme  right,  the  steam 


FIG.  87. — PARSONS  COMPOUND  STEAM  TURBINE, 
ON  PLURALITY  OF  PROPELLER  SHAFTS. 


IN   THE   XIXETEENTH   CENTURY. 


ill 


turbine  on  the  extreme  left,  and  the  drum-shaped  casing  between  con- 
tains cog-gearing  by  which  the  high  revolution  of  the  turbine  wheel  is 
reduced  to  a  proper  working  speed  for  the  dynamo.  Within  the  last  few 
years  application  of  the  Parsons  steam  turbine  has  been  made  to  marine 
propulsion  with  very  remarkable  results  as  to  speed.  The  small  steam 


3. — DE  LAVAL'S  STEAM  TURBINE. 


craft,  "The  Turbinia,"  built  in  1897,  and  supplied  with  three  of  Parsons' 
compound  steam  turbines,  developed  a  speed  of  32^4  knots,  and  more  re- 
cently the  torpedo  boat  "Viper"  has  with  steam  turbines  attained  the  re- 
markable speed  of  37.1  knots,  or  over  40  statute  miles  an  hour.  About 
2,000  United  States  patents  have  been  granted  on  various  forms  of  rotary 
engines. 

In  the  transportation  building  of  the  World's  Fair  at  Chicago  in 
1893  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  objects  of  attention  was  the  model  of 
the  great  Bethlehem  Iron  Co.'s  steam  hammer,  standing  with  its  feet 


112 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


apart  like  some  great  "Colossus  of  Rhodes"  and  towering  91  feet  high 
among  the  models  of  the  great  ocean  steamers  and  battleships  which 
are  so  largely  dependent  upon  the  work  of  this  Titanic  machine.  Its 
hammer  head,  in  the  working-machine,  weighs  125  tons,  and  many  of 
the  seventeen  inch  thick  armor  plates  for  our  battleships  have  been 
forged  by  its  tremendous  blows. 

In  1838,  during  the  construction  of  the  ''Great  Britain,"  the  largest 
steamship  up  to  that  time  ever  built,  it  was  found  that  there  was  not  a 


FIG.   OQ. — DE   LAVAL   TURBINE  GEARED   TO   DYNAMO. 

forge  hammer  in  England  or  Scotland  powerful  enough  to  forge  a  paddle 
shaft  for  that  vessel.  The  emergency  was  met  by  Mr.  Nasmyth,  of  Eng- 
land, who  invented  the  steam  hammer  and  covered  it  in  British  patent 
No.  9,382,  of  1842  (U.  S.  Pat.  No.  3,042,  April  10,  1843).  A  modern 
example  of  it  is  seen  in  Fig.  90.  It  consists  of  a  steam  cylinder  at  the 
top  whose  piston  is  attached  to  a  block  of  iron,  forming  the  hammer  head 
and  sliding  vertically  in  guides  between  the  two  legs  of  the  frame. 
Valve  gear -is  arranged  to  control  the  flow  of  steam  to  and  from  the 
opposite  sides  of  the  piston,  and  so  nicely  adjusted  is  the  valve  gear  of 
such  a  modern  steam  hammer  that  it  is  said  that  an  expert  workman  can 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH   CENTURY. 


113 


manipulate  the  great  mass  of  metal  with  such  accuracy  and  delicacy  as 
to  crack  an  egg  in  a  wineglass  without  touching  the  glass.  To  the  steam 
hammer  we  owe  the  first  heavy  armor  plate  for  our  battle  ships  and  the 
propeller  shafts  of  our  earlier  steamships.  In  fact  it  was  the  steam  ham- 
mer which  first  rendered  the^  large  steamship  possible.  Mr.  Nasmyth  not 
only  invented  the  steam  hammer,  but  the  steam  pile  driver  as  well. 

For  quick  action,  nicely  adjusted  machinery,  and  showy  finish  the 
steam  fire  engine  is  a 
familiar  and  conspicu- 
ous application  of  steam 
power.  A  dude  among 
engines  when  on  dress 
parade,  and  a  sprinter 
when  on  the  run,  it 
gets  to  work  with  the 
vim  and  efficiency  of  a 
thoroughbred,  and  is  a 
most  business-like  and 
valuable  custodian  of 
life  and  property.  The 
first  portable  steam  fire 
engine  was  built  about 
1830  by  Mr.  Brathwaite 
and  Capt.  Ericsson  in 
London.  In  1841  Mr. 
Hodges  produced  a 
similar  engine  in  New1 
York  Citv.  Cincinnati 


was  the  first  city  to 
adopt  the  steamer  as  a 
part  of  its  fire  depart- 
ment apparatus.  To- 
day all  the  important  cities  and  towns  of  the  civilized  world  rely  upon 
the  steam  fire  engines  for  their  longevity  and  existence.  Time  economy 
in  getting  into  action  is  the  great  objective  point  of  most  improvements 
of  the  fire-  engine,  and  one  of  the  most  important  is  the  keeping  of  the 
water  in  the  boiler  hot  when  the  engine  is  out  of  action  at  the  engine 
house,  so  that  when  the  fire  is  built  and  the  run  is  made  to  the  scene  of 
action,  the  water  will  be  hot  to  start  with.  This  attachment  was  the  in- 
vention of  William  A.  Brickill,  and  was  patented  by  him  August  18,  1868, 


FIG.  90. — STEAM    HAMMER. 


114 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


No.  81,132.  In  the  illustration,  Fig.  91,  the  two  pipes  passing  from  the 
engine  through  the  trap  door  in  the  floor  connect  with  a  water  heater  in 
the  basement  below,  which  heater  maintains  a  constant  circulation  of  hot 
water  in  the  steam  boiler.  Couplings  in  these  pipes  serve  to  quickly  dis- 
connect the  engine  when  the  run  to  the  fire  is  to  be  made. 

Among  other  useful  applications  of  the  steam  engine  are  the  steam 


FIG.  QI. — STEAM   FIRE  ENGINE  WITH   WATER   HEATING  ATTACHMENT. 


plow,  steam  drill,  steam  dredge,  steam  press,  and  steam  pump,  of  which 
latter  the  Blake,  Knowles,  and  Worthington  are  representative  types. 

The  highest  type  of  modern  steam  engines  is  to  be  found  in  the  com- 
pound multiple-expansion  engine,  in  which  three  or  more  cylinders  of  dif- 
ferent diameters  with  corresponding  pistons  are  so  arranged  that  steam  is 
made  to  act  first  upon  the  piston  in  the  smallest  cylinder  at  high  pressure, 


IN   THE   NINETEENTH    CENTURY. 


115 


and  then  discharging  into  the  next  larger  cylinder,  called  the  intermediate, 
acts  expansively  upon  its  piston,  and  thence,  passing  into  the  still  larger 
low  pressure  cylinder,  imparts  its  further  expansive  effect  upon  its  piston. 


The  fundamental  principle  of  the  compound  engine  dates  back  to  the 
time  of  Watt,  its  first  embodiment  appearing  in  the  Hornblower  com- 
pound engine,  as  described  in  British  patent  No.  1,298,  of  1781,  but 


116  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

modern  improvements  have  differentiated  it  into  almost  a  new  inven- 
tion. A  fine  example  is  shown  in  Fig.  92,  which  represents  the  quadruple 
expansion  engines  of  the  "Deutschland,"  the  new  steamer  of  the  Hamburg- 
American  Line.  The  two  high  pressure  cylinders,  however,  do  not  ap- 
pear in  the  illustration,  being  too  high  for  the  shops.  They  stand 
vertically,  however,  upon  the  two  bed  plates  which  appear  at  the  top  of 
the  two  low  pressure  cylinders.  In  each  set  of  six  cylinders  the  two  low 
pressure  cylinders  are  in  the  middle,  the  two  high  pressure  cylinders  im- 
mediately above  them  or  arranged  tandem,  while  at  the  forward  end  is 
the  first  intermediate  cylinder,  and  at  the  after  end  is  the  second  inter- 
mediate. The  low  pressure  cylinders  are  106  inches  in  diameter,  the 
intermediate  cylinders  are  73.6  inches  and  103.9  inches  respectively,  and 
the  two  high  pressure  cylinders  are  30.6  inches,  and  the  steam  pressure 
is  225  pounds.  Its  improvements  comprehend  the  systems  of  Schlick, 
patented  in  the  United  States  November  23,  1897,  No.  594,288  and  594,- 
289,  and  Taylor,  patented  November  22,  1898,  No.  614,674,  which  em- 
body fine  mathematical  principles  for  balancing  the  momentum  of  the 
great  masses  of  moving  parts,  so  that  the  engine  may  run  up  to  high 
speed  without  vibrations  and  damaging  strains  upon  the  hull. 

Mulhall  gives  the  steam  horse  power  of  the  world  in  1895,  not  in- 
cluding war  vessels,  as  follows : 

Stationary.         Railway.  Steamboat.  Total. 

The  World 11,340,000         32,235,000         12,005,000         55,580,000 

United  States....   3,940,000         10,800,000  2,200,000         16,940,000 

The  increase  in  steam  power  in  the  United  States  has  been  from 
3.500,000  horse  power  in  1860,  to  16,940,000  horse  power  in  1895,  or 
about  five  fold  within  thirty-five  years. 

Prof.  Thurston  says  that  in  1890  the  combined  power  of  all  the  steam 
engines  of  the  world  was  not  far  from  100,000,000  *  horse  power,  of  which 
the  United  States  had  15,000,000,  Great  Britain  the  same,  and  the  other 
countries  smaller  amounts.  Taking  the  horse  power  as  the  equivalent  of 
the  work  of  five  men,  the  work  of  steam  is  equivalent  to  that  of  a  popu- 
lation of  500,000,000  working  men.  It  is  also  said  that  one  man  to-day, 
with  the  aid  of  a  steam  engine,  performs  the  work  of  120  men  in  the 
last  centurv. 


*  Prof.  Thurston's  estimate  doubtless  includes  war  vessels,  which  Mulhall's  later 
estimate  does  not  (see  Mulhall's  "Industries  and  Wealth  of  Nations,"  1896,  pages  4 
Mid  379). 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH   CENTURY.  117 

The  influence  of  the  steam  engine  upon  the  history  and  destiny  of  the 
world  is  an  impressive  subject,  far  beyond  any  intelligent  computation  or 
estimate.  It  has  been  the  greatest  moving  force  of  the  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury. The  labor  of  100,000  men  for  twenty  years  might  build  a  great 
pyramid  in  Egypt,  and  it  remains  as  a  monument  of  patience  only,  but  the 
genius  of  the  modern  inventor  has  organized  a  machine  with  muscles  of 
steel,  far  more  patient  and  tireless  than  those  of  the  Egyptian  slave.  He 
gave  it  but  a  drink  of  water  and  making  coal  its  black  slave,  and  him- 
self the  master  of  both,  he  has  in  the  Nineteenth  Century  hitched  his 
chariot  to  a  star  and  driven  to  unparalleled  achievement. 


118  THE  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  STEAM  RAILWAY. 

TREVITHICK'S  FIRST  LOCOMOTIVE— BLENKINSOP'S  LOCOMOTIVE— MEDLEY'S  "PUFFING 
BILLY" — STEPHENSON'S  LOCOMOTIVE — THE  LINK  MOTION — STOCKTON  AND  DAR- 
LINGTON RAILWAY,  1825 — HACKWORTH'S  "ROYAL  GEORGE" — "STOURBRIDGE  LION"— 
— "JOHN  BULL" — BALDWIN'S  LOCOMOTIVES — WESTINGHOUSE  AIR  BRAKES — JAN- 
NEY  CAR  COUPLING — THE  WOODRUFF  SLEEPING  CAR— RAILWAY  STATISTICS. 

THE  fact  that  more  patents  have  been  granted  in  the  class  of  car- 
riages and  wagons  than  in  any  other  field,  shows  that  means  of 
transportation  has  engaged  the  largest  share  of  man's  inventive 
genius,  and  has  been  most  closely  allied  to  his  necessities.    The 
moving  of  passengers  and  freight  seems  to  be  directly  related  to  the  prog- 
ress of  civilization,  and  the  factor  whose  influence  has  been  most  felt  in 
this  field  is  the  steam  locomotive.     Sir  Isaac  Newton  in  1680  proposed  a 
steam  carriage  propelled  by  the  reaction  of  a  jet  of  steam.    Dr.  Robinson 
in  1759  suggested  the  steam  carriage  to  Watt.     Cugnot  in  1769  built  a 
steam  carriage.     Symington,  in  1770,  and  Murdock,  in  1784,  built  work- 
ing models,  and  in  1790  Nathan  Read  also  made  experiments  in  steam 
transportation,  but  the  Nineteenth  Century  dawned  without  any  other  re- 
sults than  a  few  abandoned  experiments,  and  the  criticism  and  disappoint- 
ment of  the  inventors  in  this  field. 

The  father  of  the  locomotive  and  the  first  inventor  of  the  Nineteenth 
Century  who  directed  his  energy  to  its  development  was  Richard  Trevi- 
thick,  of  Camborne,  Cornwall.  In  1801  he  built  his  first  steam  carriage, 
adapted  to  carry  seven  or  eight  passengers,  which  was  said  to  have  "gone 
off  like  a  bird,"  but  broke  down,  and  was  taken  to  the  home  of  Capt. 
Vivian,  who  afterward  became  a  partner  of  Trevithick.  An  old  lady, 
upon  seeing  this  novel  and,  to  her,  frightful  engine,  is  said  to  have  cried 
out:  "Good  gracious!  Mr.  Vivian,  what  will  be  done  next?  I  can't 
compare  it  to  anything  but  a  walking,  puffing  devil."  On  the  24th  of 
March,  1802,  Trevithick  and  Vivian  obtained  British  patent  No.  2,599 
for  their  steam  carriage,  and  a  second  one  was  built  in  1803  which  was 
popularly  known  as  Capt.  Trevithick's  "Puffins:  Devil."  In  1804,  at 
Pen  y  Darran,  South  Wales,  a  third  engine  was  built,  which  was  the  first 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CEXTL'RY. 


119 


steam  locomotive  ever  to  run  on  rails.     It  is  seen  in  the  illustration,  No. 
93.     It  had  a  horizontal  cylinder  inside  the  boiler,  a  cross  head  sliding 


FIG.  93. — TREVITHICK'S  LOCOMOTIVE,  1804.    THE  FIRST  TO  RUN  ON  RAILS. 

on  guides  in  front  of  the  engine,  the  cross  head  being  connected  to  a  crank 

on  a   rear  gear  wheel,  which   in 

turn  meshes  with  an  intermediate 

gear    wheel    above    and    between 

two    other    gear    wheels    on    the 

running    wheels.      A     fly     wheel 

was    on    the    crank    shaft.     The 

steam    was    discharged    into    the 

chimney,    and    the    whole    engine 

weighed    five    tons,    and    it    ran, 

when    loaded,    at    five    miles    an 

hour.     In    1808    Trevithick    built 

a    circular    railway    at     London 

within  an  inclosure,  and  charged 

a    shilling    for    admission    to    his 


FIG.  94. — BLENKINSOP'S  LOCOMOTIVE,   l8ll. 


steam  circus  and  a  ride  behind  his  locomotive.  The  engine  here  employed 
was  the  "Catch  Me  Who  Can,"  and  had  a  vertical  cylinder  and  piston, 
without  the  toothed  gear  wheels  shown  in  the  illustration. 


120 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


In  Fig.  94  is  shown  Blenkinsop's  locomotive  of  1811.  This  was  em- 
ployed at  the  Middleton  Colliery  in  hauling  coal.  It  had  cog  wheels  en- 
gaging teeth  on  the  side  of  the  rail.  The  fire  was  built  in  a  large  tube 
passing  through  the  boiler  and  bent  up  to  form  a  chimney.  Two  vertical 
cylinders  were  placed  inside  the  boiler,  and  the  pistons  were  connected 
by  cross  heads,  and,  by  connecting  rods,  to  cranks  on  the  axles  of  small 


FIG.  95. — HEDLEY'S  "PUFFING  BILLY/'  1813. 

cog  wheels  engaging  with  the  main  cog  wheels.     It  drew   thirty  tons 
weight  at  three  and  three-quarter  miles  an  hour. 

In  1813  "Puffing  Billy",  was  built  by  Wm.  Hedley.  There  were  (see 
Fig.  95)  four  smooth  drive  wheels  running  on  smooth  rails,  which  wheels 
were  coupled  together  by  intermediate  gear  wheels  on  the  axle,  and  all 
propelled  by  a  gear  wheel  in  the  middle,  driven  by  a  connecting  rod  from 
the  walking  beam  overhead.  Medley's  locomotive  was  used  on  the 
Wylam  railway,  and  was  said  to  have  been  at  work  more  or  less  until 
1862. 


IN  THE  XI. \ETEE.\TI  I  CENTURY.  121 

Most  prominent  among  those  who  took  an  active  interest  in  the  de- 
velopment of  the  locomotive  were  George  Stephenson  and  his  son,  Rob- 
ert. Stephenson's  first  locomotive  was  tried  on  the  Killingworth  Railway 
on  July  27,  1814.  In  1815  Dodds  and  Stephenson  patented  an  arrange- 
ment for  attaching  the  connecting  rods  to  the  driving  wheels,  which  took 
the  place  of  cog  wheels  heretofore  employed,  and  in  the  following  year 
Stephenson,  in  connection  with  Mr.  Losh,  patented  the  application  of 


FIG.  96.— HACKWORTH'S  LOCOMOTIVE,  "ROYAL  GEORGE/'  1827. 

steam  cushion-springs  for  supporting  the  weight  of  the  locomotive  in  an 
elastic  manner. 

In  1825  the  Stockton  and  Darlington  Railway,  in  England,  was 
opened  for  traffic,  with  George  Stephenson's  engine,  "Locomotion,"  and 
was  put  permanently  into  service  for  the  transportation  of  freight  and 
passengers. 

In  1827  Hackworth  produced  the  "Royal  George  (see  Fig.  96),  whose 
cylinders  were  arranged  vertically  at  the  rear  end  of  the  boiler,  and 
whose  pistons  emerged  from  the  cylinders  at  the  lower  ends  of  the  latter, 
and  imparted  their  power  through  connecting  rods  to  cranks  on  the  op- 
posite ends  of  the  axle  of  the  rear  driving  wheels  in  a  more  direct  man- 
ner than  heretofore,  and  doing  away  with  the  overhead  mechanism  here- 


122 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


tofore  employed  in  most  engines.  Hackworth  also  improved  the  steam 
blast,  put  on  the  bell,  and  greatly  simplified  and  modernized  the  appear- 
ance of  the  locomotive. 


FIG.  97. — GEORGE  STEPHENSON's  "ROCKET/'   1829, 

In  1829  the  Liverpool  and  Manchester  Railway  was  completed,  and 
the  directors  offered  a  prize  of  £500  for  the  best  locomotive.  George 
Stephenson's  "Rocket/'  shown  in  Fig.  97,  attained  a  speed  of  24  1-6  miles 
an  hour,  and  took  the  prize.  Its  success,  however,  was  marred  by  the 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


123 


first  railroad  fatality,  for  it  ran  over  and  killed  a  man  on  this  occasion. 
It  embodied,  as  leading  features,  the  steam  blast  and  the  multitubular 
boiler,  which  latter  was  six  feet  long  and  had  twenty-five  three -inch 
tubes.  The  fire  box  was  surrounded  by  an  exterior  casing  that  formed  a 
water  jacket,  which,  by  means  of  pipes,  was  in  open  communication  with 
the  water  space  of  the  boiler. 

The  first  practical  locomotive  to  run  on  a  railroad  in  the  United  States 
was  the  "Stourbridge  Lion,"  seen  in  Fig.  98.     This  was  imported  from 
England,  and  arrived  in  New  York  in  May,  1829,  and  was  tried  in  that 
year  on  a  section  of  the  Dela- 
ware &  Hudson  Canal  Com- 
pany's railroad.       The  boiler 
was  tubular,  and  the  exhaust 
steam    was    carried    into    the 
chimney  by  a  pipe  in  front  of 
the  smoke  stack  as  shown.    It 
had      vertical     cylinders      of 
thirty-six    inch    stroke,   with 
overhead   grasshopper   beams 
and  connecting  rods. 

In  Fig.  99  is  shown  the 
"John  Bull,"  now  in  the  Na- 
tional Museum  at  Washing- 
ton, D.  C.  It  was  built  by 
Stephenson  &  Co.  for  the 
Camden  &  Amboy  Railroad, 
and  was  brought  over  from 
England  and  put  into  service 
in  1831.  During  the  Colum- 
bian Exposition  at  Chicago  in 
1893,  after  a  long  rest  in  the  Washington  Museum,  it  made  its  way  under 
its  own  steam  to  Chicago,  drawing  a  train  of  two  cars  a  distance  of  912 
miles  without  assistance.  It  further  distinguished  itself  while  there  by 
carrying  50,000  passengers  over  the  exhibition  tracks,  and  although  sixty- 
two  years  of  age  at  the  time,  showed  itself  quite  capable  of  performing 
substantial  work. 

Most  of  the  early  locomotives  used  in  America  were  imported  from 
England,  but  our  inventors  soon  commenced  making  them  for  themselves. 
The  Baldwin  Locomotive  Works,  of  Philadelphia,  has  had  a  notable  career 
in  the  field  of  locomotive  construction.  "Old  Ironsides,"  built  in  1832, 


FIG.  98. — "STOURBRIDGE  LION,"  1829. 


124 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


was  the  first  Baldwin  locomotive,  and  it  did  duty  for  over  a  score  of  years. 

It  is  shown  in  Fig.  100.   It  had  four  wheels  and  weighed  a  little  over  five 

tons.  The  drive  wheels 
were  54  inches  in  di- 
ameter, and  the  cylinder 
9^2  inches  in  diameter, 
1 8  inches  stroke.  The 
wheels  had  heavy  cast 
iron  hubs  with  wooden 
spokes  and  rims  and 
wrought  iron  tires,  and 
the  frame  was  of  wood 
placed  outside  t  h  e 
wheels.  The  boiler  was 
30  inches  in  diameter 
and  had  72  copper  flues 
il/2  inches  in  diameter, 
7  feet  long.  The  price 
of  the  locomotive  was 
$4,000,  and  it  attained  a 
speed  of  30  miles  an . 
hour,  with  its  train. 

In  Fig.  101  is  shown 
a  standard  type  of  pas- 
senger locomotive  of  the 
period  of  1863,  and  in 
Fig.  102  is  illustrated 
the  period  of  1881, 
which  latter  represents 
perhaps  the  greatest 
epoch  of  railroad  build- 
ing in  the  history  of  the 
world.  According  to 
Poor's  Manual,  $1,000,- 
ooo  a  day  was  the  esti- 
mated cash  outlay  on 
this  account  for  the 
three  years  up  to  the 
close  of  1882,  during 
which  period  28,019 


/Ar  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


125 


miles  of  railroad  were  opened  up  in  the  United   States,  or  more  than 
enough  to  girdle  the  entire  earth.     Some  idea  of  the  wonderful  growth  of 


FIG.  100. — BALDWIN'S  "OLD  IRONSIDES/'  1832. 

the  railroad  industry  during  this  period  is  given  by  the  following  tables, 
which  represent  the  yearly  production  of  locomotives  by  the  Baldwin 
Company  alone  for  forty  years  prior  to  this  period : 


126 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


1842 14 

1843 I2 

1844 22 

1845 27 

1846 42 

1847 39 

1848 20 

1849 3° 

1850 37 

1851 50 

1852 49 


1853 60 

1854 62 

1855 47 

1856 59 

1857 66 

1858 33 

1859 7° 

1860 83 

1861 40 

1862 75 


1863 96 

1864 130 

1865 115 

1866 '.118 

1867 127 

1868 124 

1869 235 

1870 280 

1871 33i 

1872..... .442 


1873 -437 

1874 205 

1875 130 

1876 232 

1877 185 

1878 292 

1879 398 

1880...... 517 

1881 555 

1882 563 

1883 557 


FIG.   101. — EIGHT-WHEEL  PASSENGER  EXPRESS  LOCOMOTIVE/ 1863. 

The  present  capacity  of  the  Baldwin  works  is  one  thousand  locomotives 
a  year,  and  they  have  built  up  to  this  date  about  fifteen  thousand  locomo- 
tives, or  nearly  one-half  of  all  the  locomotives  in  use  in  the  United  States. 

The  successive  steps  of  the  development  in  detail  of  the  various  features 
of  the  locomotive  are  distributed  over  a  long  period,  and  are  somewhat 
difficult  to  trace.  The  turning  of  the  exhaust  steam  into  the  smoke  stack 
was  done  by  Trevithick  as  early  as  1804,  but  its  effect  was -greatly  increased 
by  Hackworth  about  1827,  who  augmented  its  power  by  directing  it  into 
the  chimney  through  a  narrow  orifice.  This  and  the  tubular  locomotive 
boiler  by  Seguin  in  1828,  the  link-motion  in  1832,  the  steam  whistle  by 
Stephenson  in  1833,  the  Giffard  injector  in  1858,  and  the  Westinghouse 
air  brake  of  1869,  are  the  most  prominent  features  of  the  locomotive. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


127 


The  link  motion  has  been  claimed  both  for  the  younger  Stephenson 
and  W.  T.  James,  of  New  York,  the  latter  being  probably  its  real  inventor. 
Its  purpose  is  to  reverse  the  engine  and  also  to  cut  off  steam  in  either  di- 
rection, so  that  it  may  act  expansively.  The  form  of  link  motion  most 
generally  used  is  shown  in  Fig.  103,  and  is  known  as  Stephenson's.  A  B 
are  two  eccentrics  projecting  in  opposite  directions  from  the  center  of  the 
common  drive  shaft,  their  rods  being  connected  at  their  outer  ends  by  a 
curved  and  slotted  link  C  D.  In  the  slot  of  this  link  plays  a  pin  E,  carried 
by  a  pendent  swinging  lever  G  F,  which  lever  is  jointed  at  its  lower  end  to 
the  slide  valve  rod  H.  A  T-shaped  lever  I  L  K  M  has  one  arm  at  I  con- 
nected by  a  rod  with  the  slotted  link  at  C.  The  opposite  arm  is  provided 
with  a  counter  weight  at  K  to  balance  the  weight  of  the  link  C  D  and  eccen- 


FIG.    102. — EXPRESS  PASSENGER  LOCOMOTIVE,   l88l. 

trie  rods,  and  the  upright  arm  is  connected  at  M  to  a  rod  operated  by  a 
hand  lever  P  within  easy  access  of  the  engineer.  When  the  link  C  D  is 
lowered  the  eccentric  B  imparts  its  throw  to  pendent  lever  G  F  and  valve 
roc!  H,  and  the  eccentric  A  will  only  swing  the  end  C  of  the  link  without 
imparting  any  effect  to  the  valve.  When  link  C  D  is  drawn  up  so  that  pin 
E  is  in  the  bottom  of  the  slot,  the  eccentric  A  is  active  and  B  inactive, 
and  as  A  has  an  opposite  throw  to  B,  the  action  of  the  valve  is  reversed. 
If  link  C  D  be  drawn  half  way  up,  the  pin  E  becomes  the  center  of  the  os- 
cillation of  the  link,  and  the  valve  rod  is  not  moved  at  all.  By  adjust- 
ing the  link  nearer  to  or  further  from  the  central  position,  the  throw  of 


128 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


the  slide  valve  may  be  made  shorter  or  longer,  and  the  steam  cut  off  at 
a  later  or  earlier  period  in  the  stroke  of  the  piston. 

Fig.  104  is  a  type  of  the  best  modern  express  locomotive.  This  is  th*e 
famous  999  of  the  New  York  Central  &  Hudson  River  Railroad.  Its  cyl- 
inders are  19x24  inches,  driving  wheels  86^  inches  in  diameter,  weight 
62  tons,  steam  pressure  190  pounds.  This  engine  hauls  the  Empire  State 
Express  at  a  speed  of  64.22  miles  an  hour,  excluding  stops,  or  more  than 
a  mile  a  minute. 

In  securing  a  higher  efficiency  and  a  greater  economy  in  the  use  of 


FIG.  103. — STEPHENSON'S  LINK  MOTION. 

steam,  the  most  recent  developments  in  the  locomotive  have  been 
in  the  application  of  the  principle  of  the  compound  expansion  engine,  in 
which  two  or  more  cylinders  of  different  diameters  are  used,  the  steam  at 
high  pressure  acting  in  the  smaller  cylinder,  and  being  then  exhausted 
into  and  acting  expansively  upon  the  piston  of  the  larger  cylinder.  A 
fine  example  of  the  compound  locomotive  is  shown  in  Fig.  105.  The 
cylinders  are  arranged  in  pairs,  the  small  high  pressure  cylinder  above, 
and  the  larger  low  pressure  cylinder  below,  both  piston  rods  engaging  a 
common  cross  head.  The  application  of  this  principle  of  the  compound 
engine  is  said  to  involve  a  saving  in  coal  of  over  25  per  cent. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


129 


Prominent  among  modern  improvements  in  steam  railways  is  the  air- 
brake. This  invention  is  chiefly  the  result  of  the  ingenuity  of  Mr.  George 
Westinghouse,  Jr.,  who,  beginning  his  experiments  in  1869,  took  out  his 
first  patents  on  the  automatic  air  brake  March  5,  1872,  Nos.  124,404  and 
124,405,  which  have  since  been  followed  up  by  many  others  in  perfecting 
the  system.  The  principle  of  the  air  brake  is  to  store  up  compressed  air 
in  a  reservoir  on  the  locomotive  by  means  of  a  steam  pump.  This  air  pass- 
ing through  a  train  pipe  connected  by  hose  couplings  between  cars 
charges  an  auxiliary  reservoir  under  each  car.  This  reservoir  is  arranged 
beside  a  cylinder  having  a  piston  and  a  triple  valve.  Pressure  in  the 


FIG.   IQ4- — LOCOMOTIVE  ENGINE    NO.  QQQ. 

train  pipe  is  maintained  constantly,  and  the  power  to  work  the  piston  to 
apply  the  brakes  comes  from  the  auxiliary  reservoir  beside  it,  which  is  set 
into  action  by  a  sudden  reduction  of  pressure  in  the  train  pipe  by  the  en- 
gineer through  a  special  form  of  valve  on  the  locomotive.  The  air  brake 
is  capable  of  stopping  a  train  at  average  speed  within  the  distance  of  its 
own  length,  and  so  great  a  safeguard  to  life  and  property  is  it,  that  its  ap- 
plication to  a  certain  number  of  cars  on  every  train  is  made  compulsory  by 
law. 

The  automatic  car  coupling  is  another  important  life-saving  improve- 
ment. Many  thousands  of  these  have  been  patented,  but  the  "Janney" 
coupling,  patented  April  29,  1873,  No.  138,405,  is  the  most  representative 


130 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  IN  TENT  I  OX 


type.     The  year  1900  is  to  witness  the  compulsory  adoption  of  automatic 
car  couplings  on  all  cars.    The  "block  system"  of  signals,  by  which  no  train 


is  admitted  on  to  a  given  section  of  track  until  the  preceding  train  has  left 
that  section,  improved  switches,  which  are  not  dependent  upon  the  memory 
of  men,  and  steel  rails,  which  constitute  nine-tenths  of  all  tracks  and  serve 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  131 

to  increase  the  stability  of  the  track,  are  further  modern  safeguards  against 
danger. 

Sleeping  cars  were  invented  by  Woodruff,  and  patented  Dec.  2,  1856, 
Nos.  16,159  and  16,160.  These,  with  the  palace  cars  of  Pullman  and  Wag- 
ner, the  special  refrigerator  cars  for  perishable  goods,  cars  for  cattle,  and 
cars  for  coal,  multiply  the  equipment,  swell  the  traffic,  and  supply  every 
want  of  the  great  railroad  systems  of  modern  times. 

The  first  railroad  in  the  United  States  was  built  near  Quincy,  Mass.,  in 
1826.  The  Pacific  Railway,  the  first  of  our  half  a  dozen  transcontinental 
railways,  was  completed  in  1869.  The  great  Trans-Siberian  Railway  is 
nearing  completion,  and  in  the  Twentieth  Century  a  Trans-Sahara  Railway 
will  probably  relieve  the  burdens  of  the  camel,  as  it  has  already  done  those 
of  the  horse. 

At  the  end  o'f  the  year  1898  there  were  in  use  in  the  United  States  36,- 
746  locomotives,  1,318,700  cars,  and  the  mileage  in  tracks,  including  second 
track  and  sidings,  was  245,238.87,  which,  if  extended  in  a  straight  line, 
would  build  a  railway  to  the  moon.  The  money  investment  represented  in 
capital  stock  and  bonds  was  $11,216,886,452.  The  gross  earnings  for  the 
year  1898  were  $1,249,558,724.  The  net  earnings  were  $389,666,474.  Tons 
of  freight  moved  were  912,973,853.  Receipts  from  freight  were  $868,924,- 
526.  Number  of  passengers  carried  was  514,982,288.  Receipts  from  pas- 
sengers were  $272,589,591,  and  dividends  paid  were  $94,937,526.  Add  to 
the  above  the  elevated  railroads  and  street  railroads,  which  are  not  in- 
cluded, and  the  immensity  of  the  railroad  business  in  the  United  States  be- 
comes apparent.  In  1898  the  United  States  exported  468  locomotives, 
worth  $3,883,719.  Mulhall  estimates  that  the  steam  horse  power  of  rail- 
roads in  the  world  amounted  in  1896  to  40,420,000,  of  which  the  United 
States  had  more  than  one-third.  He  also  states  that  the  railways  in  the 
United  States  carry  every  day,  in  merchandise,  a  weight  equal  to  that  of 
the  whole  of  the  seventy  millions  of  persons  constituting  its  population ; 
that  the  total  railway  traffic  of  the  world  in  1894  averaged  ten  million 
passengers  and  six  million  tons  of  merchandise  daily;  and  that  the  total 
railway  capital  of  the  world  reached  in  that  year,  6,745  million  sterling, 
or  about  thirty-three  billion  dollars. 

It  is  said  that  the  highest  railway  speed  ever  attained  by  steam  prior 
to  1900  was  by  locomotive  No.  564  of  the  Lake  Shore  &  Michigan  South- 
ern Railroad,  made  during  part  of  a  run  from  Chicago  to  Buffalo.  In 
this  run  86  miles  were  made  at  an  average  rate  of  72.92  miks  an  hour. 
The  train  load  was  304,500  pounds,  and  the  86  mile  run  included  one  mile 
at  92.3  miles  an  hour,  eight  miles  at  85.44  miles  an  hour,  and  thirty-three 


132  THE  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 

miles  at  80.6  miles  an  hour.  On  May  26,  1900,  however,  an  experiment 
on  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad,  made  by  Mr.  F.  U.  Adams  between 
Baltimore  and  Washington,  demonstrated  that  by  sheathing  the  train  to 
prevent  retardation  by  the  air,  an  average  speed  of  78.6  miles  an  hour  was 
obtained,  and  for  five  miles  on  a  down  grade  a  speed  of  102.8  miles  an  hour 
was  reached. 

The  largest  and  most  powerful  locomotives  in  the  world  are  those  be- 
ing built  for  the  Pittsburg,  Bessemer  &  Lake  Erie  Railroad  for  hauling 
long  trains  of  iron  and  ore,  one  of  which  has  just  been  completed.  Its 
cylinders  are  24  x  32  inches ;  drive  wheels,  54  inches  diameter ;  weight,  125 
tons ;  draw  bar  pull  56,300  pounds,  and  hauling  capacity  7,847  tons. 
One  of  these  mammoth  engines  is  capable  of  drawing  a  train  of 
box  cars,  loaded  with  wheat,  and  more  than  a  mile  long,  at  a  speed 
of  ten  miles  an  hour.  This  load  of  wheat  would  represent  the 
yield  of  14  square  miles  of  land.  No  doubt  it  would  greatly  astonish  our 
forefathers  to  know  that  at  the  end  of  the  century  we  would  have  iron 
horses  capable  of  carting  away,  at  a  single  load,  the  products  of  14  square 
miles  of  the  country  side,  and  do  it  at  a  gait  faster  than  that  of  their  local 
mail  coach. 


IX   THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  133 


CHAPTER  XII. 

STEAM  NAVIGATION. 

EARLY  EXPERIMENTS— SYMINGTON'S  BOAT — COL.  JOHN  STEVENS'  SCREW  PROPELLER— 
ROBT.  FULTON  AND  THE  "CLERMONT" — FIRST  TRIP  TO  SEA  BY  STEVENS'  "PHOENIX" 
— "SAVANNAH,"  THE  FIRST  STEAM  VESSEL  TO  CROSS  THE  OCEAN — ERICSSON'S 
SCREW  PROPELLER — THE  "GREAT  EASTERN"— THE  WHALEBACK  STEAMERS- 
OCEAN  GREYHOUNDS — THE  "OCEANIC,"  LARGEST  STEAMSHIP  IN  THE  WORLD — 
THE  "TURBINIA" — FULTON'S  "DEMOLOGOS,"  FIRST  WAR  VESSEL — THE  TURRET 
MONITOR — MODERN  BATTLESHIPS  AND  TORPEDO  BOATS — HOLLAND  SUBM. \RINK 
BOAT. 

THE  application  of  steam  for  the  propulsion  of  boats  engaged  the 
attention  of  inventors  along  with  the  very  earliest  development 
of  the  steam  engine  itself.  Blasco  de  Garay  in  1543,  the  Mar- 
quis of  Worcester  in  1655,  Savary  in  1698,  Denys  Papin  in  1707, 
Dr.  John  Allen  in  1730,  Jonathan  Hulls  in  1737,  Bernouilli  and  Genevois 
in  1757,  William  Henry  (of  Pennsylvaina)  in  1763,  Count  D'Auxiron  and 
M.  Perier  in  1774,  the  Marquis  de  Jouffroy  in  1781,  James  Rumsey  (on 
the  Potomac)  in  1782,  Benjamin  Franklin  and  Oliver  Evans  in  1786  and 
1789,  John  Fitch  in  1786,  and  also  again  in  1796,  and  William  Symington 
in  1788-89  were  the  early  experimenters.  Papin's  boat  was  said  to  have 
been  used  on  the  Fulda  at  Cassel,  and  was  reported  to  have  been  destroyed 
by  bargemen,  who  feared  that  it  would  deprive  them  of  a  livelihood. 
Allen,  Rumsey,  Franklin,  and  Evans  (1786)  proposed  to  employ  a  back- 
wardly  discharged  column  of  water  issuing  from  a  pump.  Jonathan  Hulls 
and  Oliver  Evans  (1789)  had  stern  wheels.  Bernouilli,  Genevois,  and  the 
Marquis  de  Jouffroy  used  paddles  on  the  duck's  foot  principle,  which 
closed  when  dragged  forward,  and  expanded  when  pushed  to  the  rear. 
Fitch's  first  boat  employed  a  system  of  paddles  suspended  by  their  handles 
from  cranks,  which,  in  revolving,  gave  the  paddles  a  motion  simulating  that 
which  the  Indian  imparts  to  his  paddle.  Symington's  boat  of  1788 
(Patrick  Miller's  pleasure  boat)  had  side  paddle  wheels.  Symington's 
next  boat,  built  in  1789,  and  also  owned  by  Patrick  Miller,  was  of  the  cata- 
maran type,  /'.  e.,  it  had  two  parallel  hulls  with  paddle  wheels  between  them. 
Such  was  the  state  of  this  art  when  the  Nineteenth  Century  commenced 
its  wonderful  record.  No  practical  steam  vessel  had  been  constructed,  as 


134  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

the  efforts  in  this  direction  were  handicapped  by  the  crudeness  of  all  the 
arts,  and  were  to  be  regarded  as  experiments  only,  most  of  which  had  to  be 
abandoned.  The  seed  of  this  invention,  however,  had  been  sown  in  the 
fertile  soil  of  genius,  conception  of  its  great  possibilities  had  fired  the  zeal 
of  the  inventors  in  this  field,  and  the  new  century  was  shortly  to  number 
among  its  great  resources  a  practical  and  efficient  steamboat. 

The  first  steamboat  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  was  the  "Charlotte 
Dundas,"  built  by  William  Symington  in  1801,  see  Fig.  106,  and  used  on 
the  Forth  and  Clyde  Canal  in  1802.  She  had  a  double  acting  "Watt  en- 
gine," which  transmitted  power  by  a  connecting  rod  to  a  crank  on  the  pad- 
dle-wheel shaft.  The  boat  had  a  single  paddle  wheel  in  the  middle  near  the 
stern,  and  was  intended  only  for  canal  use,  in  the  place  of  horses.  It  was 
abandoned  for  fear  of  washing-  the  banks. 


FIG.  106. — SYMINGTON'S  STEAMBOAT,  1801. 

In  1804  Col.  John  Stevens  constructed  a  boat  on  the  Hudson,  driven  by 
a  Watt  engine,  and  having  a  tubular  boiler  of  his  own  invention  and  a  twin 
screw  propeller.  The  engine,  boiler,  and  twin  screws  are  shown  in  Fig. 
107.  The  same  year  Oliver  Evans  used  a  stern  paddle  wheel  boat  on  the 
Delaware  and  Schuylkill  rivers.  It  was  driven  by  a  double  acting  high 
pressure  engine,  and  geared  so  as  to  rotate  wagon  wheels  by  which  it  was 
transported  on  land,  as  well  as  the  paddle  wheels  when  on  the  water.  It 
was  in  primitive  form  both  a  locomotive  and  a  steamboat. 

In  1807  Robert  Fulton  built  the  "Clermont,"  and  permanently  estab- 
lished steam  navigation  on  the  Hudson  River  between  New  York  and 
Albany.  Fulton  in  1802-1803,  while  living  in  Paris  with  Mr.  Joel  Barlow, 
and  with  the  aid  and  encouragement  of  Chancellor  Livingston,  of  New 
Jersey,  had  built  an  earlier  steamboat  86  feet  long,  and  although  it  broke 
down  owing  to  defects  in  the  strength  of  the  hull,  he  was  so  encouraged 


IX  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  135 

that  he  ordered  Messrs.  Boulton  &  Watt,  of  England,  to  send  to  America  a 
new  steam  engine,  and  upon  his  return  to  America  he  built  the  "Clermont." 
This  vessel,  although  net  the  first  steamboat,  was  nevertheless  the  first  to 
make  a  voyage  of  any  considerable  length,  and  to  run  regularly  and  con- 
tinuously for  practical  purposes,  and  Fulton  was  the  first  inventor  in  this 
field  whose  labors  were  not  to  be  classed  as  an  abandoned  experiment.  The 
"Clermont"  as  originally  built  was  quite  a  different  looking  boat  from  that 
usually  given  in  the  histories.  A  model  of  the  original  construction  is  to 
be  found  in  the  National  Museum  at  Washington.  In  the  winter  of  1807-8 
she  was  remodeled  as  shown  in  Fig.  108.  She  then  appeared  as  a  side 


FIG.  107. — STEVENS'  TWIN  SCREW  PROPELLER  AND  ENGINE,  1804. 

wheel  steamer,  whose  wheels  were  provided  with  outer  guards  and  en- 
closed in  side  wheel  houses,  and  whose  shaft  had  outer  bearings  in  the 
guards,  which  were  not  in  the  original  boat.  The  hull  was  133  feet  long, 
1 8  feet  beam,  and  7  feet  depth.  The  "Clermont's"  engines  were  coupled  to 
the  crank  shaft  by  a  bell  crank,  and  the  paddle  wheel  shaft  was  separated 
from  the  crank  shaft,  but  connected  with  it  by  gearing.  The  cylinders  were 
24  inches  in  diameter,  and  4  foot  stroke.  The  paddle  wheels  had  buckets  4 
feet  long  with  a  dip  of  2  feet.  She  made  the  first  trip  from  New  York  to 
Albany  of  150  miles  in  32  hours,  and  returned  in  30  hours,  which  was  the 
first  voyage  of  any  considerable  length  ever  made  by  steam  power. 

The  honor  of  inventing  the  steamboat  has  been  claimed  for  many  in- 
ventors, and  that  many  worthy  experimenters  had  been  working  in  this 
field,  and  that  Fulton  had  the  benefit  of  their  experience  is  true.  The  fact 


136  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

is,  however,  that  the  evolution  of  any  great,  invention  is  a  slow  and  cumu- 
lative process,  the  product  of  many  minds,  and  .while  the  proposers,  sug- 
gesters,  and  experimenters  are  entitled  to  their  share  of  the  credit,  it  is  the 
man  who  achieves  success  and  gives  to  the  public  the  benefit  of  his  labors 
whom  the  world  honors,  and  in  this  connection  the  name  of  Fulton  stands 
pre-eminent,  for  although  the  "Clermont"  was  264  years  later  than  the 
steamboat  of  Blasco  de  Garay,  the  "Clermont"  marks  the  beginning  of 
practical  steam  navigation,  and  whatever  the  claims  of  other  inventors  may 
be,  it  is  certain  that  steam  navigation,  established  by  Fulton  in  1807,  on  the 
Hudson,  preceded  the  practical  use  of  the  steamboat  in  any  other  country 
by  at  least  five  years,  for  it  was  not  until  1812  that  Henry  Bell,  of  Scot- 
land, built  the  "Comet,"  that  plied  between  Glasgow  and  Greenock,  on  the 


FIG.     IO8. — THE    "CLERMONT,"    iSO?. 

Clyde,  and  not  until  1814  was  a  steam  packet  used  for  hire  on  the  Thames 
in  England. 

At  the  same  time  that  Fulton  was  in  Paris  making  his  first  experiments 
with  the  steamboat,  Col.  John  Stevens,  the  most  celebrated  boat  builder  and 
engineer  of  his  day,  was  actively  experimenting  in  America  in  the  same 
line.  Having  in  1804  made  the  first  application  of  steam  to  the  screw  pro- 
peller, he  in  1807  built  the  "Phoenix,"  which  was  driven  by  paddle  wheels. 
The  "Phoenix"  was  constructed  shortly  after  Fulton's  boat,  but  was  barred 
from  use  on  the  Hudson  by  the  exclusive  monopoly  obtained  by  Fulton 
and  Livingston  from  the  State  Legislature,  and  she  was  accordingly  taken 
from  New  York  to  Philadelphia  by  sea,  which  was  the  first  ocean  voyage 
by  a  steam  vessel. 

The  first  steamboat  on  the  Mississippi  was  the  "Orleans,"  of  100  tons, 
built  at  Pittsburg  by  Fulton  and  Livingston  in  1811.  She  had  a  stern 
wheel,  and  went  from  Pittsburg  to  New  Orleans  in  14  days. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


137 


Although  the  first  trip  out  to  sea  was  made  in  1808  by  Col.  Stevens'  son 
in  taking  the  "Phoenix"  from  New  York  to  Philadelphia,  no  attempt  had 
been  made  to  cross  the  ocean  until  1819.  In  this  year  the  "Savannah,"  an 
American  steamer  of  380  tons,  performed  this  feat,  and  had  the  honor  of 
being  the  first  steam  vessel  to  cross  the  Atlantic.  In  1824  the  "Enterprise," 
an  English  steamer,  rounded  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  went  to  India. 

The  screw  propeller  employed  by  Colonel  Stevens  in  1804  was  not  a 
new  invention  with  him,  as  popularly  supposed,  but  had  its  origin  early  in 
the  preceding  century,  being  a  mere  development  of  the  ancient  wind 
wheel.  In  1836  it  was  further  developed  by  Francis  P.  Smith  and  by 
Capt.  John  Ericsson,  then  living  in  England.  Ericsson  took  out  British 
patent  Xo.  7,149,  of  1836,  and  United  States  patent  No.  588,  of  Feb.  i, 
1838,  and  built-  several  screw  steamers,  and  through  Capt.  Robert  F. 
Stockton,  of  the  United  States  Navy,  succeeded  in  having  a  screw  steamer, 
the  "Robert  F.  Stockton,"  built  in  accordance  with  the  plans  of  his  patent 
and  sent  to  the  United  States.  The  arrangement  of  her  machinery  is  seen 
in  Fig.  109.  She  had  two  propellers  on  the  same  axis,  but  revolving  in  op- 


FIG.    ICQ. — SCREW  PROPELLER  OF  THE  "ROBT.  F.   STOCKTON/'  ERICSSON'S   PATENT,    1836. 

posite  directions,  one  being  on  the  central  shaft  and  the  other  on  a  con- 
centric tube.  The  engines  were  coupled  directly  to  the  propeller  shafts, 
which  feature  was  one  of  Ericsson's  improvements,  and  has  continued  to 
be  the  approved  form  to  this  day. 

In  the  early  history  of  steam  navigation  the  side  wheel  steamer  was  the 
favorite,  and  was  employed  for  ocean  travel  as  well  as  for  inland  waters. 


138  THE  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 

In  1840  the  "Brittania,"  the  first  Cunarder,  commenced  the  career  of  that 
celebrated  line.  This  vessel  had  side  wheels,  as  did  also  the  "United 
States,"  shown  in  Fig.  no,  which  was  the  first  American  steamer  built  ex- 
pressly for  the  Atlantic  trade.  In  1852  the  United  States  mail  steamer 
"Arctic,"  of  the  Collins  line,  was  regarded  as  the  greyhound  of  the  Atlantic, 
her  time  being  9  days,  17  hours  and  12  minutes.  She  also  had  side  wheels. 
Side  wheel  steamers  for  inland  waters,  and  screw  propellers  for  sea 
service,  however,  in  time  established  their  fitness  for  their  respective  scenes 
of  action.  In  side  wheel  steamers  the  most  notable  improvements  have 


FIG.   IIO. — STEAMER  "UNITED  STATES/'   1847. 

been  in  stiffening  the  hull  by  braces,  and  the  adoption  of  feathering  paddle 
wheels,  whose  function  is  to  cause  the  paddles  to  enter  and  leave  the  water 
in  vertical  position  without  dragging  dead  water.  Manley  in  1862,  and 
Morgan  in  1875,  patented  practical  forms  of  the  feathering  paddle  wheel. 
In  screw  propellers,  Woodcroft  in  1832,  and  Griffiths  at  a  later  period,  made 
valuable  improvements.  The  surface  condenser  was  used  by  Hall  in  1838 
on  the  steamship  "Wilberforce,"  and  Sickels  in  1841  invented  the  drop 
cut-off. 

In  1854  the  "Great  Eastern"  was  begun  and  was  finished  in  1858.  This 
was  the  largest  steam  vessel  ever  built  up  to  this  time,  and  has  continued  to 
hold  the  record  for  size  up  to  the  year  1899,  when  her  dimensions  were 
exceeded  by  the  "Oceanic,"  which  ships  are  put  in  comparison  in  Fig.  in. 
The  length  of  the  "Great  Eastern"  was  692  feet,  beam  83  feet,  depth  57^2 


7-V   THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


139 


140 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


feet,  draft  25^  feet,  displacement  27,000  tons,  and  speed  12  knots.  She 
was  designed  by  the  English  engineer  Brunei,  and  was  intended  for  the 
Australian  trade.  She  had  both  a  screw  propeller  and  paddle  wheels  at  the 
side,  with  four  engines  coupled  to  each.  The  paddle  wheel  engines  had 
steam  cylinders  74  inches  in  diameter,  with  14  foot  stroke,  and  those  of  the 
screw  engines  were  84  inches  in  diameter  and  4  foot  stroke.  Collectively 
they  were  of  10,000  horse  power.  The  paddle  wheels  were  56  feet  in 
diameter,  and  the  screw  propeller  24  feet.  On  her  first  voyage  to  New 
York,  across  the  Atlantic,  in  1860,  she  carried  from  15  to  24  pounds  of 
steam  and  consumed  2,877  tons  °f  coa^-  tier  cost  was  $3,831,520.  This 


12. — STEAMBOAT 


mammoth  vessel  was  too  large  and  unwieldy  for  the  uses  for  which  she 
was  designed,  and  proved  a  bad  investment.  She  served,  however,  a  most 
useful  purpose;  by  virtue  of  her  great  bulk,  steadiness,  and  carrying  ca- 
pacity, for  relaying  the  Atlantic  cable  in  1866,  and  others  in  1873-1874. 

In  1874  the  "Castalia"  was  built.  This  was  a  steamer  with  two  parallel 
hulls,  decked  across,  and  designed  for  greater  steadiness  in  crossing  the 
English  Channel.  The  "Bessemer"  steamer,  designed  for  the  same  pur- 
pose, and  built  about  the  same  time,  had  four  paddle  wheels,  and  the  entire 
cabin  was  hung  on  pivots,  so  that  it  could  not  partake  of  the  sea  motion. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


141 


FIG.   113. — ENGINES  AND  PADDLE  WHEEL  OF  STEAMER     ADIRONDACK     ON  THE 
HUDSON  RIVER. 


142 


THE  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 


In  later  years  great  improvements  have  been  made  in  reducing  the 
weight  of  the  engines,  in  forced  blast,  steam  steering  gear,  anchor  hoisting 
devices,  water-tight  bulkheads,  surface  condensers,  electric  lights,  and  sig- 
nalling devices.  By  the  year  1880  the  standard  form  of  marine  engine  for 
large  powers  had  become  the  compound  double  cylinder  type,  expanding 
steam  from  an  initial  pressure  as  high  as  90  pounds.  In  1890  triple  expan- 
sion engines  had  become  common,  employing  three  cylinders,  and  using 
steam  with  an  initial  pressure  as  high  as  180  pounds.  In  1890  McDougal's 
whale-back  steamers  were  introduced.  See  United  States  patents  No. 
429,467  and  429,468,  June  3,  1890,  and  No.  500,411,  June  27,  1893. 

In  no  country  in  the  world  are  such  fine  examples  of  side  wheel  steam- 
ers to  be  found  as  in  the  United  States,  and  in  no  country  are  there  such 


FIG.  114. — "KAISER  WILHELM  DER  GROSSE." 

splendid  reaches  of  inland  waters  as  theatres  for  their  performances.  The 
"Priscilla,"  shown  in  Fig.  112,  of  the  Fall  River  Line,  plying  on  Long 
Island  Sound,  and  the  "Adirondack,"  on  the  Hudson,  are  fine  examples  of 
this  type.  The  "Priscilla,"  which  is  said  to  be  the  largest  river  boat  in  the 
world,  is  440  feet  6  inches  long  and  93  feet  breadth  over  the  guards.  She 
is  driven  by  double  compound  inclined  engines,  has  feathering  paddle 
wheels  35  feet  in  diameter  and  14  feet  face,  and  her  speed  is  over  20  miles 
an  hour.  The  "Adirondack,"  whose  engines  and  feathering  paddle  wheel 
are  shown  in  Fig.  113,  is  412  feet  long  and  90  feet  breadth  over  guards. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY 


143 


144 


THE  PROGRESS  Or  INVENTION 


The  engines  and  paddle  wheels  of  the  "Adirondack"  are  distinctly  repre- 
sentative of  the  modern  American  side  wheel  steamer. 

The  largest  and  in  many  respects  the  highest  type  of  marine  archi- 
tecture is  to  be  found  in  the  modern  ocean  greyhound  for  transatlantic 
trade.  In  recent  years  the  rival  companies  have  vied  with  each  other  in  the 
effort  to  excel,  and  steamships  of  larger  size,  greater  speed,  and  more  per- 
fect equipment  have  followed  each  other,  until  it  would  seem  that  the  limit 
had  been  reached.  In  the  accompanying  table  the  largest  and  most  recent 
steamers  are  placed  in  comparison  with  the  "Great  Eastern." 


DIMENSIONS    OF    THE    LARGEST    OCEAN    STEAMERS. 


NAME    OF 
SHIP. 

DATE. 

LENGTH 
OVER 
ALL. 

BEAM. 

DEPTH. 

DRAUGHT. 

DISPLACE- 
MENT. 

MAXI- 
MUM 
SPEED. 

Great  East- 

FEET. 

FEET. 

FEET. 

FEET. 

TONS. 

KNOTS. 

ern 

i8;8 

602 

8? 

W/1 

2C^ 

2  7  ooo 

I  2 

Paris  

1  *•*  T*-* 

1888 

\jy* 
560 

"O 
63 

J  /  /* 
42 

*3  71 

26  * 

13,000 

20 

Teutonic.  .  . 

1890 

585 

57^ 

42 

26 

12,000 

20 

Campania.  . 

1893 

625 

65- 

4i# 

28 

19,000 

22 

St.  Paul.... 

1895 

554 

63 

42 

27 

14,000 

21 

Kaiser  Wil- 

helm   der 

Grosse.  .  . 

,897 

649 

66 

43 

29 

20,000 

22.35 

Oceanic..  .  . 

1899 

704 

68 

49 

32# 

28,500 

20 

Deutsch- 

land  

1900 

686^ 

67/3 

44 

29 

22,000 

*3^ 

The  "Kaiser  Wilhelm  der  Grosse,"  owned  by  the  North  German  Lloyd 
Company,  and  built  in  1897,  is  shown  in  Fig.  114,  and  for  three  years  held 
the  record  as  the  fastest  steamship  afloat.  The  "Kaiser  Wilhelm"  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  "Oceanic,"  in  1899,  of  the  White  Star  Company,  which  is  the 
largest  ocean  steamer  ever  built,  exceeding  the  proportions  of  the  "Great 
Eastern."  Just  what  the  dimensions  of  the  "Oceanic"  mean,  as  given  in 
the  preceding  tables,  can  be  best  illustrated  by  the  accompanying  Fig.  1 1 5, 
in  which  she  is  juxtaposed  with  several  blocks  of  large  buildings  on  Broad- 
way, New  York,  opposite  City  Hall  Park.  If  the  "Oceanic"  were  placed 
on  end  beside  Washington's  Monument,  at  the  United  States  Capital,  she 
would  tower  150  feet  above  the  top  of  the  same.  An  ordinary  brick  house 
four  rooms  deep  and  three  stories  high  could  be  built  with  its  length  cross- 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  145 

wise  in  her  hull.  There  is  accommodation  for  410  first-class  passengers, 
300  second-class  passengers,  and  1,000  third  class,  and  as  her  crew  will 
number  390,  the  total  number  of  souls  on  board,  when  she  carries  her  full 
complement,  will  be  2,100. 

The  latest  achievement  in  marine  architecture,  however,  is  the 
"Deutschland,"  built  for  the  Hamburg-American  Company.  The 
"Deutschland"  is  not  quite  so  large  as  the  ''Oceanic,"  but  is  of  higher 
speed,  her  maximum  speed  of  23^3  knots  an  hour  exceeding  that  of  any 
other  ocean  steamer.  The  "Savannah,"  the  first  steam  vessel  to  cross  the 
Atlantic,  made  the  trip  in  1819  in  26  days.  The  "Deutschland"  in  her  east- 
ward trip  September  4,  1900,  crossed  the  Atlantic  in  5  days  7  hours  and 
38  minutes,  which  is  the  fastest  time  on  record.  The  "Deutschland"  is  of 
35,640  horse  power,  her  two  bronze  propellers  are  23  feet  diameter,  and 
weigh  30  tons,  and  her  propeller  shafts  are  25  inches  in  diameter.  The 
cranks  of  her  propeller  shafts,  like  those  of  the  "Kaiser  Wilhelm"  and  the 
"Oceanic,"  are,set  according  to  the  Schlick  system,  to  reduce  vibration. 
The  "Deutschland's"  engines  are  seen  in  Fig.  92,  and  in  general  appear- 
ance the  ship  resembles  the  "Kaiser  Wilhelm."  Still  larger  and  possibly 
swifter  steamships  are  in  process  of  construction,  viz. :  the  "Kaiser  Wil- 
helm II.,"  by  the  North  German  Lloyd  Company,  and  a  mammoth  un- 
named ship  by  the  White  Star  Line,  whose  length  of  750  feet  will  exceed 
all  others. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  note  in  familiar  terms  what  these  enormous 
traveling  palaces  comprehend  in  equipment.  For  the  safety  and  comfort  of 
passengers,  the  great  length  reduces  the  pitching,  bilge  keels  prevent  roll- 
ing, and  the  Schlick  system  of  cranks  neutralizes  vibration  in  the  engine. 
Strong  bulkheads,  and  double  bottoms  with  air-tight  compartments,  impart 
buoyancy  in  case  of  collision.  Boilers  are  placed  in  separate  water-tight 
compartments,  so  that  damage  to  one  does  not  disable  the  others.  Power- 
ful pumps  are  arranged  to  discharge  inflowing  water,  and  the  best  of  life 
ooats  are  provided.  Spacious  dining  rooms,  promenade  decks,  drawing 
rooms,  pianos,  library,  smoking  room,  state  rooms,  cabins  for  children, 
toilets,  baths,  medicine  stores,  a  printing  office,  and  electric  lights  every- 
where, furnish  every  want  and  satisfy  every  luxurious  taste.  The  cuisine 
includes  a  refrigerating  plant,  the  finest  ranges,  and  provisions  galore.  It 
may  be  interesting  to  the  housewife  to  see  the  market  list  of  a  modern 
transatlantic  steamer.  A  specimen  is  partially  represented  in  the  follow- 
ing: 25,450  pounds  of  fresh  meat,  3,250  pounds  of  fish,  6,370  pounds  of 
game  and  poultry,  12,715  pounds  of  bread,  43  barrels  of  flour,  3,938 
pounds  of  butter,  1,307  pounds  of  coffee,  2,790  pounds  of  sugar,  102 


546  .       THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

pounds  of  tea,  7,220  pounds  of  fresh  fruit;  1,230  gallons  of  milk,  26,106 
eggii,  29,180  oranges  and  lemons,  7,033  bottles  of  mineral  water,  1,800 
bottles  of  beer,  2,688  gallons  of  beer  in  casks,  1,240  bottles  of  wine,  630 
bottles  of  champagne,  1,600  heads  of  lettuce,  800  jars  of  preserved  fruits, 
and  other  things  in  proportion. 

In  the  matter  of  size  the  "Oceanic"  surpasses  all  previous  efforts  in 
ship  building,  but  ocean  steamers  do  not  reach  the  highest  speed  attainable. 
The  little  "Turbinia,"  a  40  ton  craft  equipped  with  a  compound  rotary 
steam  turbine  of  the  Parsons  type,  has  attained  a  speed  of  32^4  knots  an 
hour.  An  even  greater  speed  has  recently  been  attained  by  the  larger  boat, 
"Hai  Lung,"  constructed  in  England  for  the  Chinese  Government,  which 
vessel  was  equipped  with  reciprocating  engines,  and  is  credited  with  having 
made  a  run  of  18^  knots  at  an  average  speed  of  35  knots  an  hour.  The 
highest  speed  ever  attained,  however,  is  by  the  British  torpedo  boat 
"Viper,"  which  is  210  feet  long,  and,  like  the  "Turbinia,"  is  equipped 
with  the  Parsons  steam  turbines.  In  a  recent  trial  the  "Viper"  covered  a 
measured  mile  at  the  rate  of  37.1  knots,  or  about  43  miles  an  hour. 

In  many  respects  the  most  important  branch  of  steam  navigation  in 
recent  years  has  been  its  war  vessels.  The  great  navies  of  the  world  at  the 
end  of  1898*  ranked  as  follows:  England,  1,557,522  tons;  France,  731,629 
tons  ;  Russia,  453,899  tons  ;  United  States,  303,070  tons  ;  Germany,  299,637 
tons  ;  Italy,  286,175  tons,  and  they  all  owe  their  efficiency  entirely  to  steam. 
The  first  steam  war  vessel  was  built  in  1814  by  Fulton  for  the  defence  of 
New  York  Harbor,  during  the  then  existing  war  times.  She  was  knowrn 
as  the  "Demologos"  (voice  of  the  people),  or  "Fulton  the  First."  As 
shown  in  the  original  designs,  Fig.  116,  she  is  a  double  ender,  whose 
sides  were  to  be  5  feet  thick.  In  her  middle  was  a  channel  way  or  well  con- 
taining a  protected  paddle  wheel  16  feet  in  diameter,  14  feet  wide,  and  hav- 
ing a  dip  of  4  feet.  A  single  cylinder  engine  turned  the  paddle  wheel  on 
one  side,  and  was  balanced  by  the  boiler  on  the  other  side.  Although  in- 
tended to  have  only  twenty  guns,  she  was  equipped,  when  finished,  with 
thirty  long  32-pounder  guns  and  two  Colnmbiad  100  pounders.  It  was  pro- 
posed also  to  have  submarine  guns  suspended  from  each  bow.  An  engine 
was  also  to  be  used  to  discharge  hot  water  on  the  enemy,  and  a  furnace 
was  to  be  provided  for  heating  the  cannon  balls  red  hot.  She  was  156  feet 
long,  20  feet  deep,  and  56  feet  broad,  and  was  regarded  as  a  very  formid- 
able vessel.  Her  cost  was  $278,544.  Iron-clad  floating  batteries  were 


*  The  figures  represent  a  selective  list  which  excludes  about  15  per  cent,  of  old  and 
inefficient  vessels. 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


147 


first  used  in  1855  in  the  Crimean  war,  and  shortly  afterward  the  French 
built  the  first  sea-going  iron-clad,  "Gloire,"  followed  in  1859  by  the  Brit- 
ish iron-clad,  "Warrior." 

"DEMOLOGOS" 

Figure  P?  Trarvvcrtt  section  AJurSoUrr.  B  tAc  ttfam.Enginff.Uu  maur-rtuel. . 

EElurvootten  wtusrut  Uw*  d,minUhu&'">'l*b»'  Ou.  ~<urrlinc<uaiSr. 

*  draught,  uf -»-aur 9  frcr  W 


Vat-fUne 

, 


FIG.    Il6. 

The  civil  war  in  1861  brought  with  it  a  novel  and  striking  form  of  war 
vessel  known  as  the  "Monitor."*   It  was  built  from  plans  of  Capt.  Ericsson, 


*  The  revolving  turret  was  invented  and  patented  by  Theodore  R.  Timby,  No. 
35,846,  July  8,  1862.  and  No.  36.593,  September  30,  1862. 


148 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


an  engineer  of  the  ripest  experience,  skill,  and  attainments,  who  had  then 
come  to  make  his  home  in  the  United  States.  He  undertook  to  construct 
for  the  Navy  Department  of  the  United  States  some  form  of  iron  clad 
steam  batteries  of  light  draft,  suitable  to  navigate  the  rivers  and  harbors  of 
the  Confederate  States.  The  "Monitor"  was  the  result.  The  salient  fea- 
tures, shown  in  vertical  cross  section  in  Fig.  117,  are  a  low  deck  projecting 


m 


FIG.   117. — CROSS  SECTION  OF  "MONITOR." 

but  a  few  inches  above  the  water  line,  so  as  to  present  as  little  target  as 
possible  to  the  enemy,  and  a  revolving  and  heavily  armored  turret  contain- 
ing the  battery  of  guns.  In  1862  the  Confederate  forces  had  reconstructed 
a  steam  vessel  with  a  chicken-coop-shaped  covering  of  armor,  that  proved 
a  formidable  engine  of  war,  which  was  practically  invulnerable  to  the  at- 
tacks of  ordinary  war  vessels,  and  was  doing  great  damage  to  the  Union 
vessels.  In  the  spring  of  1862  the  "Monitor"  met  the  "Merrimac"  in  en- 
gagement in  Hampton  Roads,  and  established  the  great  value  of  the  turret 
monitor. 

Vessels  of  the  "Monitor"  type  still  form  useful  parts  of  the  United 
States  Navy,  in  which  the  "Monterey"  and  "Monadnock"  are  its  most  rep- 
resentative types.  The  "Monadnock,"  which  is  a  double-turret  coast  de- 
fence monitor,  is  shown  in  Fig.  118.  Although  regarded  by  some  as  un- 
seaworthy  on  account  of  the  low  seaboard  and  small  buoyancy,  the  mon- 
itor has  cleared  itself  of  such  suspicion,  for  in  the  recent  war  with  Spain 
both  the  "Monadnock"  and  "Monterey  '  sailed  across  the  Pacific  Ocean  by 
way  of  Honolulu  to  Manila,  a  distance  of  7,000  miles,  and  joined  the  fleet 
of  Admiral  Dewey  without  mishap  or  delay. 

No  patriotic  American  citizen  would  expect  to  read  an  account  of 
modern  war  vessels  without  finding  special  mention  of  those  two  splendid 


7.V   THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


149 


150 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


types  of  their  class,  the  battleship  "Oregon"  and  the  armored  cruiser 
"Brooklyn,"  whose  performances  during  the  late  war  with  Spain  con- 
tributed so  much  to  the  honor  and  glory  of  the  United  States  Navy,  and 
demonstrated  the  skill  and  efficiency  of  our  American  shipbuilders.  Before 
the  war  began  the  "Oregon"  was  stationed  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  where  she 
had  been  built,  and  it  was  desired  that  she  should  join  the  fleet  of  Admiral 
Sampson  in  Cuban  waters.  Leaving  Puget  Sound  on  March  6,  1898,  this 
floating  fortress  of  steel,  weighted  with  her  enormous  guns  and  i8-inch 
thick  armor,  made  the  long  journey  of  over  14,500  miles  around  the 
southern  end  of  the  western  continent,  and  up  to  Jupiter  Inlet  on  the 
Florida  coast,  arriving  there  on  the  24th  day  of  May,  and  was  not  delayed 
an  hour  on  account  of  her  machinery,  the  only  stops  being  made  for  coal. 
Immediately  after  coaling  at  Key  West  she  took  her  place  in  the  blockad- 


FIG.   lip. — BATTLESHIP  "OREGON." 

ing  line  at  Santiago,  and  in  the  great  battle  of  July  3  quickly  developed  a 
power  greater  that  that  attained  on  her  trial  trip  and  a  speed  only  slightly 
less,  easily  distancing  all  other  ships  immediately  engaged  except  the 
"Brooklyn,"  and  in  connection  with  the  "Brooklyn"  forced  the  fleetest  of 
the  Spanish  cruisers  to  .surrender. 

The  "Oregon"  is  shown  in  Fig.  119.  She  is  an  armored  battleship  of 
the  first  class,  built  by  the  Union  Iron  Works  of  San  Francisco,  and 
launched  Oct.  26,  1893.  Her  length  is  348  feet,  beam  69^4  feet,  draft  24 
feet,  displacement  10,288  tons,  maximum  speed  16.79  knots,  and  coal 
capacity  1,594  tons.  Her  side  armor  is  of  steel  plates  18  inches  thick,  and 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


151 


her  deck  is  2^4  inches  thick.  On  the  turrets  the  armor  is  from  6  to  15 
inches  thick,  and  on  the  barbettes  it  is  from  6  to  17  inches  thick.  Her  en- 
gines are  of  the  twin  screw,  vertical  triple  expansion  direct  acting  inverted 
cylinder  type.  The  stroke  is  42  inches,  and  the  diameters  of  the  cylinders 
are  34//2,  48,  and  75  inches,  respectively.  The  battery  consists  of  four 
13-inch  breech  loading  rifles,  eight  8-inch  breech  loading  rifles,  four  6-inch, 
twenty  6-pounder  rapid  fire  guns,  six  i -pounder  rapid  fire,  two  Colts,  one 
3-inch  rapid  fire  field  gun,  and  three  torpedo  tubes.  The  1 3-inch  guns 
weigh  136,000  pounds  each,  are  39  feet  9^4  inches  long,  are  set  18  feet 
above  the  water,  can  be  moved  through  an  arc  of  270  degrees,  and  throw  a 
projectile  of  1,100  pounds  a  distance  of  12  miles,  and  with  a  power  which 
at  1,000  yards  would  perforate  a  mass  of  steel  2>4  feet  in  thickness.  The 
cost  of  the  "Oregon"  was  $3,180,000. 

The  "Brooklyn"  is  shown  in  Fig.  120,  and  enjoys  the  distinction  of  hav- 


FIG.    I2O. ARMORED  CRUISER      BROOKLYN. 

ing  borne  the  brunt  of  the  fight  of  July  3,  1898,  having  been  hit  over  forty 
times  in  that  engagement  without  being  disabled.  She  was  built  by  the 
William  Cramp  &  Sons  Ship  and  Engine  Building  Company,  of  Phila- 
delphia, was  launched  Oct.  2,  1895,  and  cost  $2,986,000.  She  is  an  ar- 
mored cruiser,  and  is  one  of  the  latest  and  most  speedy  of  that  type.  She 
is  400  feet  6  inches  long,  64  feet  8  inches  breadth,  24  feet  draft,  9,215  tons 
displacement.  Her  engines  are  the  twin-screw  vertical  triple  expansion 
type,  imparting  a  speed  of  21.91  knots  an  hour.  Her  maximum  indicated 
horse  power  is  18,769,  and  her  coal  capacity  is  1,461  tons.  Her  battery 
consists  of  eight  8-inch  breech  loading  rifles,  twelve  5-inch  rapid  fire  guns, 
twelve  6-pounder  rapid  fire,  four  i -pounder  rapid  fire,  four  Colts,  two 
3-inch  rapid  fire  field  guns,  and  four  Whitehead  torpedo  tubes.  Her  side 


152  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

armor  is  3  inches  thick,  her  turrets  5^2  inches,  her  barbettes  from  4  to  8 
inches,  and  her  deck  from  3  to  6  inches.  She  also  has  a  water  line  protec- 
tion of  cocoa  fibre  to  automatically  close  up  an  opening  made  by  a  shot. 

Although  not  a  steam  vessel,  it  would  be  regarded  as  an  omission  not 
to  mention  among  war  vessels  the  "Holland"  submarine  boat,  brought  into 
notice  in  1898  by  the  Spanish  American  war,  and  designed  to  dive  below 
the  surface  and  make  attack  below  the  water  level.  Torpedo  boats  of  this 
type  have  been  acquired  by,  and  now  form  a  part  of,  the  United  States 
Navy. 

Among  all  the  types  of  steam  war  vessels  which  have  claimed  popular 
attention  the  most  interesting  in  proportion  to  its  size  is  the  torpedo  boat, 
for  none  represent  such  concentrated  pent-up  energy  and  deadly  effect  as 
this  little  demon  of  the  sea.  A  mere  shell  in  construction,  with  engine  and 
boiler  built  for  highest  speed,  and  crew  suffering  untold  discomforts  and 
dangers  below,  this  modern  engine  of  destruction,  with  the  speed  of  an  ex- 

I860  I8^4- 


FIG.    121. — SHIPPING  OF  ALL  NATIONS.      RATIO  OF   STEAM  TO  SAILS. 

press  locomotive,  and  the  helplessness  and  deadly  intent  of  a  scorpion, 
darts  up  to  the  monster  battleship  under  cover  of  darkness,  and  before  be- 
ing discovered  discharges  a  torpedo  and  delivers  a  mortal  wound  in  the 
side  of  the  big  ship  which  sends  her  to  the  bottom,  perishing  perhaps  itself 
in  the  destruction  which  it  works.  The  United  States  has  37  of  these  tor- 
pedo boats.  The  torpedo  boat  destroyer  is  a  larger  and  swifter  boat,  whose 
special  duty  it  is  to  overtake  and  destroy  this  dangerous  little  fighter. 

The  growth  of  steam  navigation  during  the  present  generation  has  been 
wonderfully  rapid.  The  accompanying  diagram,  Fig.  121,  from  Mulhall's 
"Industries'  and  Wealth  of  Nations,"  shows  in  1860  30  per  cent,  of 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  153 

steam  to  70  per  cent,  of  sailing  vessels,  while  in  1894  the  ratio  is  80  per 
cent,  of  steam  to  20  of  sailing  vessels.  The  same  authority  estimated 
the  total  horse  power  of  steam  vessels  in  the  merchant  marine 
of  the  world  in  1895  to  be  12,005,000.  Add  to  this  the  growth  of  the  past 
five  years,  and  about  4,000,000  horse  power  for  the  steam  war  vessels  of 
the  world's  navies,  which  were  not  included,  and  the  total  horse  power  of 
the  steam  vessels  of  the  world  would  not  be  for  from  twenty  million. 

This  cursory  review,  in  a  single  chapter,  cannot  adequately  treat  this 
great  subject,  for  a  whole  library  is  needed  to  cover  the  field.  Suffice  it  to 
say,  however,  that  among  the  great  scenes  and  acts  in  the  theatre  of  hu- 
man action,  no  figure  has  occupied  so  much  attention,  and  none  played  so 
important  a  part  in  the  drama  of  life,  as  the  steam  vessel.  Its  stage  setting 
has  been  the  majestic  waters  of  the  earth,  and  on  it  the  play  of  the  great 
warships  has  vied  in  power  and  grandeur  with  the  flash  and  vehemence  of 
the  lightning,  and  the  whirl  and  turmoil  of  the  elements.  Tense  with  a 
deep  meaning  which  no  stage  simulation  could  approximate,  and  with  the 
smoke  of  conflict  for  a  drop  curtain,  it  has  laid  tragedies  upon  the  pages  of 
history,  and  changed  the  maps  of  the  world ;  while  behind  the  scenes  the 
great  passenger  steamers,  with  their  uninterrupted  traffic  of  human  freight, 
are  more  silently,  but  none  the  less  surely,  stirring  the  peoples  of  the  earth 
into  the  homogeneous  ferment  of  civilization,  and  slowly  moulding  nations 
into  the  solidarity  of  a  common  brotherhood. 


154  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
PRINTING. 

EARLY  PRINTING  PRESSES — NICHOLSON'S  ROTARY  PRESS — THE  COLUMBIAN  AND 
WASHINGTON  PRESSES— KONIG  ROTARY  STEAM  PRESS— THE  HOE  TYPE  REVOLVING 
MACHINE — COLOR  PRINTING — STEREOTYPING — PAPER  MAKING — WOOD  PULP — THE 
LINOTYPE — PLATE  PRINTING — LITHOGRAPHY. 

THE  art  preservative  of  all  arts  it  has  been  rightfully  called. 
Before  its  birth  generation  after  generation  of  the  human 
family  lived  and  died,  and  each  was  but  little  wiser,  and 
but  little  better  than  its  predecessor.  Tradition  was  the 
misty,  vague,  and  sometimes  wholly  false  dependence  of  the  living, 
and  the  experiences  of  mankind  were,  in  the  words  of  an  eminent 
writer,  but  like  the  stern  lights  of  a  vessel,  which  only  illumined  the 
pathway  over  which  each  had  passed.  But  printing  gives  to  the  present  the 
cumulative  wisdom  of  the  past,  and  marks  a  great  era  of  growth  in  civiliza- 
tion. It  conserves  and  preserves  man's  thoughts  and  makes  them  immortal, 
so  that  each  generation  comes  into  existence  with  a  richer  legacy  of  ideas, 
and  is  guaranteed  a  higher  plane  of  existence,  and  a  more  exalted  destiny. 

Printing  from  letters  engraved  on  blocks  of  wood  is  an  ancient  art,  hav- 
ing had  its  origin  in  China  many  centuries  before  the  Christian  era.  The 
Chinese  method,  which  is  still  followed,  was  to  write  their  characters  with 
a  brush  on  a  sheet  of  paper,  and  while  still  wet,  the  piece  of  paper  was 
laid  face  downward  on  a  smooth  piece  of  board  to  transfer  the  ink  lines, 
and  then  all  except  the  ink  lines  on  the  board  was  cut  away.  Thus  they 
have  one  type  plate  for  each  book  page.  Printing  with  movable  type,  i.  c., 
with  a  separate  type  for  each  letter,  which  may  be  repeatedly  set  up  into 
forms  of  varying  composition,  is  practically  the  beginning  of  the  modern 
art  of  printing.  This  invention  is  usually  ascribed  to  Johann  Gutenberg, 
of  Mentz,  about  1436. 

In  the  earliest  printing  presses  the  form  was  locked  up  in  a  tray,  and 
placed  upon  a  platform,  and  the  platen  was  then  brought  down  upon  it  by 
turning  a  screw  in  a  cross  bar  above.  The  first  printing  press  of  this  type 
was  made  by  Blaew,  of  Amsterdam,  in  1620,  which  had  a  spring  to  cause 
the  screw  to  fly  back  after  the  impression  was  taken.  The  press  upon  which 
Benjamin  Franklin  worked  in  London  in  1725  is  of  this  pattern,  and  is  to 


/.v  THE  \i\'ETEE\'TH  CEXTCRY. 


155 


FIG.    122. — BENJAMIN'   FRAXKLIX's   PRESS,    1725. 


156 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


be  seen  in  the  National  Museum  at  Washington.  It  is  almost  entirely  of 
wood,  and  is  shown  in  Fig.  122.  About  the  beginning  of  the  Nineteenth 
Century  Lord  Stanhope  invented  a  press  entirely  of  cast  iron,  in  which  the 
oscillating  handle  operated  a  toggle  to  force  down  the  platen  in  taking  the 
impression.  The  bed  traveled  on  guide  ways,  and  the  tympan  and  frisket 
were  hinged  to  fold  back  and  lay  in  elevated  position. 

The  "Columbian"  press  was  the  first  important  American  improvement. 
It  was  invented  by  George  Clymer,  of  Philadelphia,  and  is  shown  in  his 

British  Pat.  No. 
4,174  of  1817.  A 
compound  lever  was 
employed  for  apply- 
ing the  power.  The 
"Washington"  press 
was  patented  in  the 
United  States  by 
Samuel  Rust,  April 
17,.  1829.  in  this 
press  (see  Fig.  123) 
the  platen  is  forced 
downwardly  by  a 
compound  lever  ap- 
plied to  a  toggle 
joint  and  is  raised  by 
springs  on  each  side. 
The  bed  is  run  in 
and  out  by  turning  a 
crank  on  a  shaft  which  has  a  pulley  and  belt  passing  around  it. 
As  so  far  described  the  presses  were  worked  by  hand  power.  An  im- 
portant step  in  the  advancement  of  this  art  was  made  by  the  introduction 
of  power  presses  worked  by  steam.  These  arranged  the  type  on  the  sur- 
face of  a  cylinder.  Probably  the  earliest  form  of  rotary  cylinder  press  is 
that  invented  by  Nicholson,  British  Pat.  No.  1,748  of  1790.  Its  main  fea- 
tures are  described  as  follows :  "The  types,  being  rubbed  or  scraped  nar- 
rower toward  the  foot,  were  to  be  fixed  radially  upon  a  cylinder.  This  cyl- 
inder with  its  type  \vas  to  revolve  in  gear  with  another  cylinder  covered 
with  soft  leather  (the  impression  cylinder),  and  the  type  received  its  ink 
from  another  cylinder,  to  which  the  inking  apparatus  was  applied.  The 
paper  was  impressed  by  passing  between  the  type  and  the  impression  cyl- 
inder." 


FIG.    123. — THE  WASHINGTON  PRESS. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  157 

The  first  practical  success,  however,  in  rotary  steam  presses  was 
achieved  by  Konig,  a  German,  who  in  1814  set  up  for  the  London  Times 
two  machines,  by  which  that  newspaper  was  printed  at  the  rate  of  1,100  im- 
pressions per  hour.  He  obtained  British  Pat.  No.  3,321  of  1810,  No.  3,496 
of  1811,  No.  3,725  of  1813,  and  No.  3,868  of  1814.  Konig's  machine 
was  in  1827  succeeded  by  that  of  Applegath  and  Cowper,  which  was  sim- 
pler and  more  rapid. 

Many  improvements  upon  the  methods  for  handling  the  paper  were 
subsequently  devised,  and  double  cylinder  presses  were  made  which  were 
able  to  print  4,000  sheets  an  hour.  In  1845  tne  firm  of  R.  Hoe  &  Co.,  which 
had  already  been  for  years  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  printing  presses, 
brought  out  the  Hoe  Type  Revolving  Machine.  The  first  one  of  these  was 
placed  in  the  office  of  the  Philadelphia  Ledger  in  1846,  and  had  four  im- 
pression cylinders,  printing  8,000  papers  per  hour.  The  constantly  increas- 
ing circulation  of  newspapers,  however,  continued  to  make  insatiable  de- 
mands for  more  rapid  work,  and  to  meet  this  demand  the  Hoe  company  in 
1871  brought  out  their  continuous  web  press,  in  which  the  paper  was  fur- 
nished to  the  machine  in  the  form  of  a  roll,  and  after  being  printed  was  sep- 
arated into  sheets.  This  principle  of  action  gave  promise  of  unlimited 
speed,  and  required  important  reorganization  in  all  parts  of  the  machine. 
To  meet  these  conditions  of  increased  speed  more  rapid  drying  ink  had  to 
be  produced  to  prevent  blurring,  paper  of  uniform  quality  and  strength 
had  to  be  made,  means  had  to  be  devised  for  printing  the  opposite  side  of 
the  web,  and  severing  devices  for  cutting  the  web  into  sheets  were  needed, 
but  perhaps  the  most  important  feature  was  the  device  called  a  gathering 
and  delivering  cylinder,  whereby  the  papers  could  be  gathered  and  dis- 
posed of  as  fast  as  they  could  be  printed,  and  much  faster  than  human 
hands  could  work.  This  was  the  invention  of  Stephen  D.  Tucker,  and  it  is 
the  mechanism  upon  which  the  speed  of  the  modern  press  depends,  for  it 
would  obviously  be  useless  to  print  papers  faster  than  they  could  be  taken 
from  the  machine  in  proper  condition.  Many  patents  were  taken  by 
Messrs.  Hoe  &  Tucker  covering  various  improvements,  prominent  among 
which  were  No.  18,640,  Nov.  17,  1857;  No.  25,199,  Aug.  23,  1859  (re-issue 
No.  4,429)  ;  No.  84,627,  Dec.  i,  1868  (re-issue  No.  4,400)  ;  No.  113,769, 
April  1 8,  1871 ;  No.  124,460,  March  12,  1872;  No.  131,217,  Sept.  10,1872. 
The  first  rapid  printing  press  of  the  Hoe  Company  was  set  up  in  the  office 
of  the  New  York  Tribune  in  1871,  and  its  maximum  output  was  18,000  an 
hour.  This  marked  the  great  era  of  rapid  newspaper  printing,  and  follow- 
ing it  many  further  improvements,  such  as  devices  for  folding  and  count- 
ing the  papers  automatically,  have  been  added,  until  to-day  the  great  Hoe 


158 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  L\ TEXT  I  ON 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH 'CENTURY.  J59 

Octuple  Press,  shown  in  Fig.  124,  is  the  wonder  of  the  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury. It  prints  96,000  papers  of  four,  six,  or  eight  pages  in  an  hour,  or  at 
the  rate  of  1,600  a  minute,  and  these  papers  are  not  only  printed,  but  in  the 
same  operation  and  by  the  same  machine  are  cut,  pasted,  folded,  and 
counted  automatically.  Fifty  miles  of  paper  of  the  width  of  an  ordinary 
newspaper  pass  through  it  each  hour  from  its  several  rolls.  The  machine 
weighs  over  60  tons,  and  is  composed  of  about  16,000  parts,  and  yet  its 
touch  is  so  deft,  and  its  members  so  delicately  and  accurately  adjusted  that 
it  does  not  tear  the  tender  sheet  as  it  flies  through  the  machine — so  fast 
that  one-fifth  of  a  second  only  is  required  to  print  a  page. 

The  latest  development  in  the  printing  press  has  been  in  color  printing, 
which  has  recently  been  introduced  in  the  illustration  of  some  of  the 
largest  daily  newspapers.  Such  a  press  contains  from  50,000  to  60,000 
parts,  and  its -Cost  is  from  $35,000  to  $45,000. 

Collateral  with  the  development  of  the  printing  press  are  three  impor- 
tant branches  of  the  art — sterereotyping,  paper  making,  and  type  setting. 

Stereotyping  was  the  invention  of  William  Ged,  of  Edinburg,  in  1731, 
and  was  introduced  into  the  United  States  by  David  Bruce,  of  New  York, 
in  1813.  The  stereotype  is  simply  a  moulded  duplicate  of  the  type  face  as 
set  up,  the  duplicate  being  cast  in  the  form  of  a  single  block  of  metal,  by 
first  taking  an  impression  in  plastic  material  from  the  faces  of  the  type, 
after  being  set  up,  to  form  the  mould,  and  then  casting,  in  an  easily  fusible 
metal,  an  exact  duplicate  of  this  type  face  in  this  mould.  This  art  prevents 
the  wear  on  the  movable  type  involved  in  printing,  and  also  avoids  the  lock- 
ing up  into  permanent  forms  of  a  large  body  of  valuable  type,  since  a  form 
may  be  set  up,  stereotyped,  and  the  type  then  distributed  and  set  up  into  an- 
other form.  Stereotyping,  although  used  in  book  printing,  was  not  thought 
practical  for  newspaper  work  until  about  1861,  because  of  the  length  of 
time  required  for  the  formation  and  drying  of  the  mould  and  the  casting 
of  the  plate ;  but  about  this  time  great  expedition  in  the  formation  of  the 
plate  was  attained  by  the  employment  of  a  steam  bed  to  dry  the  mould,  and 
a  novel  form  of  papier  mache  matrix,  or  mould,  which  could  be  con- 
veniently disposed  around  the  cylinders  of  type.  The  dampened  and  plastic 
papier  mache  sheets  are  beaten  into  the  face  of  the  type  form  by  means  of 
brushes,  are  then  removed,  dried,  and  used  as  moulds  to  cast  the  stereotype 
plate  from.  A  stereotype  plate  can  now  be  made  in  about  seven  minutes. 

Paper  Making  is  an  important  adjunct  of  the  printing  art,  and  its  for- 
mation cheaply  into  long  rolls  of  uniform  strength  is  an  essential  condition 
of  success  in  the  rapid  web-perfecting  printing  press.  A  Frenchman  named 
Louis  Robert  about  1799  was  the  first  to  make  a  continuous  web  of  paper, 


160 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


and  in  1800  he  received  from  the  French  Government  a  reward  of  8,000 
francs  for  his  discovery.  His  invention  was  subsequently  taken  up  and 
carried  to  a  success  by  the  great  English  paper  makers,  the  Fourdrinier 
Brothers,  whose  name  has  been  given  to  the  machine.  In  the  Fourdrinier 
process  rags  are  ground  to  a  pulp  by  a  revolving  beater  (Fig.  125)  work- 
ing in  a  tank  of  water.  The  pulp,  duly  beaten,  refined,  screened,  and 
diluted  with  water,  is  then  piped  into  the  "flow-box"  of  the  Fourdrinier 
machine.  The  "flow-box, "shown  on  right  of  Fig.  126,  is  a  deep  rectangular 
chamber  extending  across  the  full  width  of  the  machine,  from  which  the 
pulp  flows  out  in  a  thin  stream  onto  an  endless  belt  of  /o-mesh  wire  cloth 
which  runs  over  end  rollers.  To  prevent  the  stream  of  pulp  from  flowing 
laterally  over  the  edges  of  the  belt,  two  endless  rubber  guides  or  bands,  two 

inches  square  in 
cross  section,  travel 
with  the  belt  over 
the  first  twenty  feet 
of  its  length,  and 
run  over  two  pulleys 
above  the  wire  cloth. 
The  upper  half  of 
the  wire  cloth  belt  is 
supported  by  and 
runs  over  a  series  of 
closely  juxtaposed 
rollers.  As  the  pulp 
passes  from  the 

"flow-box"  the  particles  of  fibre  float  in  it  just  as  an  innumerable  multi- 
tude of  particles  of  cotton  fibre  would  float  in  a  stream  of  water.  To 
unite  and  interlace  the  fibres  the  wire  cloth  belt  is  given  a  lateral  oscil- 
lating or  shaking  movement,  which  serves  to  interlock  the  fibres.  Mean- 
while the  water  strains  through  the  the  wire  cloth,  leaving  a  thin  layer  of 
moist  interlaced  fibre  spread  in  a  white  sheet  over  the  surface  of  the 
belt.  The  separation  of  the  water  is  further  assisted  by  suction  boxes 
which  extend  across  close  beneath  the  upper  run  of  the  belt  and  are  con- 
nected to  suction  pumps. 

The  wire  cloth  with  its  layer  of  moist  pulp  now  passes  below  a  roll 
which  compresses  the  fibre,  and  then  leaving  the  machine  seen  in  Fig.  126 
it  passes  below  a  second  and  larger  roll  covered  with  felt,  which  presses  out 
more  of  the  water.  The  fibre  next  passes  to  the  "first  press,"  where  it  is 
caught  up  on  an  endless  belt  and  passed  between  two  rollers  where  more 


FIG.   125. — PAPER  PULP  BEATING  ENGINE. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


161 


water  is  pressed  out  of  the  sheet.  Then 
it  passes  through  a  "second  press,"  and 
finally  the  sheet  commences  a  long  jour- 
ney up  and  down  over  a  series  of  steam- 
heated  drying  rolls,  by  which  the  sheet 
is  dried. 

Wood-  Pulp. — When  a  purchaser  4of 
one  of  the  New  York  dailies  reads  the 
morning's  voluminous  edition,  he  little 
realizes  that  he  holds  in  his  hands  the 
remains  of  a  billet  of  wood  as  large  as 
a  good-sized  club,  yet  such  is  the  case. 
Originally  made  from  the  fibres  of  the 
papyrus  plant,  and  later  from  rags  beat- 
en into  a  pulp,  paper  for  the  printing  of 
books  and  newspapers  is  now  made  al- 
most entirely  of  wood.  In  the  forma- 
tion of  paper  pulp  from  wood  two  pro- 
cesses are  employed,  one  known  as  the 
soda  process,  and  the  other  the  sulphite 
process.  In  both  cases  the  wood  is  cut 
into  fine  chips,  and  then  digested  in  great 
drums  with  chemicals  to  extract  the  res- 
inous matter  and  leave  the  pure  fibrous 
cellulose,  which  resembles  raw  cotton  in 
texture.  This  industry  was  developed 
by  Watt  and  Burgess  in  1853  (U.  S. 
Pat.  Xo.  11,343,  July  18,  1854),  who  in- 
vented the  soda  process ;  by  Voelter  (U. 
S.  Pat.  No.  21,161,  Aug.  10,  1858),  who 
devised  means  for  comminuting  or 
shredding  the  wood;  and  by  Tilghman 
(U.  S.  Pat.  No.  70,485,  Nov.  5,  1867), 
who  invented  the  sulphite  process. 

The  logs,  usually  of  spruce  or  pop- 
lar, are  first  split,  as  seen  at  the  bottom 
of  Fig.  127,  then  placed  in  the  chipper, 
where  a  revolving  disc  with  knives  cuts 
them  into  small  chips,  which  are  fed  to 
an  elevator  and  raised  to  a  screening 


162  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INTENTION 

device,  seen  at  the  top,  to  remove  saw-dust,  dirt  and  knots.     In  the 
sulphite  process  the  chips  are  then  delivered  into  the  digesters   shown 


ililil 

FIG.    127. — CHIPPING  LOGS  FOR  PAPER  PULP. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


163 


FIG.    128. DIGESTER  FOR  WOOD   PULP. 


164 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


in  Fig.  128,  which  are  supplied  with  sulphurous  acid  generated  in  a  plant 
shown  in  Fig.  129.     In  the  digesters  the  gummy  and  resinous  matters  are 


dissolved  by  the  heat  and  chemicals,  and  the  woolly  fibre  left  behind  is 
bleached,  washed,  and  dried,  and  afterwards  made  into  paper  upon  the 
Fourdrinier  machine. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  165 

It  was  stated  by  the  Paper  Trade  Journal  in  1897  that  the  increase  in 
paper  making  in  the  United  States  during  the  15  years  preceding  amounted 
to  352  per  cent.,  due  chiefly  to  the  growth  of  the  wood  pulp  industry.  The 
Androscoggin  Pulp  Mill,  established  in  Maine  in  1870,  was  one  of  the  pion- 
eers in  this  field.  In  that  State  the  industry  had  grown  in  1897  to  over 
$13,000,000  and  gave  employment  to  more  than  5,000  men,  but  the  State  of 
Maine  is  excelled  by  both  New  York  and  Wisconsin  in  this  industry,  for  in 
the  same  year  New  York  mills  had  a  daily  capacity  of  1,800,000  pounds; 
Wisconsin,  670,000;  Maine,  665,000,  and  other  States  a  less  capacity. 
There  are  over  1,000  paper  mills  in  the  United  States,  and  their  combined 
daily  capacity  amounts  to  over  13,000  tons.  In  1898  the  United  States 
exported  over  five  million  dollars'  worth  of  paper,  and  over  fifty  million 
pounds  of  wood  pulp.  Of  the  total  amount  of  paper  produced  in  the  world 
Mulhall  estimated  it  in  1890  to  be  2,620,000,000  tons  annually.  This 
amount  is  greatly  increased  at  the  present  time,  and  by  far  the  larger  part 
of  it  is  manufactured  from  wood. 

In  1891  the  Philadelphia  Record  in  an  experimental  test  as  to  speed, 
cut  trees  from  the  forest,  converted  them  into  paper,  and  then  into  printed 
newspapers,  all  within  the  space  of  22  hours.  At  a  later  period  in  Germany, 
where  the  wood  pulp  art  began,  even  this  expeditious  work  has  been  ex- 
celled. The  trees  were  felled  in  the  morning  at  7 135,  converted  into  paper, 
and  presented  at  10  A.  M.  in  the  form  of  printed  newspapers,  with  a  record 
of  the  news  of  the  forenoon.  The  great  naval  edition  of  the  Scientific 
American  of  April  30,  1898,  consumed  a  hundred  tons  of  wood  pulp  paper, 
and  was  therefore  built  upon  a  material  foundation  of  125  cords  of  wood, 
which  cleared  off  over  six  acres  of  well-set  spruce  timber  land.  It  is  main- 
ly wood  pulp  that  has  enabled  books  and  newspapers  to  be  made  so  cheaply, 
for  they  are  row  furnished  at  a  less  price  than  the  cost  of  the  paper  made 
in  the  old  way  from  rags. 

The  Linotype. — The  most  revolutionary  and  perhaps  the  most  im- 
portant development  in  the  printing  art  of  this  century  has  been  the  lin- 
otype machine,  The  laborious,  painstaking,  and  expensive  feature  of 
printing  has  always  been  the  setting  and  redistribution  of  the  types,  since 
each  little  piece  had  to  be  separately  selected  and  placed  in  the  composing 
stick,  and  the  line  afterwards  "justified,"  which  means  an  apportionment  of 
the  space  between  the  words  so  as  to  make  each  line  of  type  about  the 
same  length  in  the  column.  The  same  separate  handling  of  each  piece  was 
again  involved  in  restoring  the  type  to  the  case.  Machines  for  thus  set- 
ting and  distributing  the  type  had  been  devised,  but  the  operation  was  so 
involved,  and  required  so  nearly  the  discretion  of  the  thinking  mind,  that 


166 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


all  automatic  machinery  proved  too  complicated  and  impracticable.     In 
1886.  however,  a  machine  was  placed  in  the  office  of  the  New  York  Tribune 


FIG.    I3O. — LINOTYPE  MACHINE. 


whose  performances  astonished  and  alarmed  the  old-time  compositor.     It 
rendered  it  unnecessary  to  handle  the  type,  or  even  to  have  any  separate 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


167 


type  at  all.  It  was  the  Mergenthaler  Linotype  machine,  which  automat- 
ically formed  its  own  type  by  casting  a  whole  line  of  it  at  a  time.  The  first 
machine  was  invented  in  1884,  and  patented  in  1885,  but 
it  was  subsequently  reorganized  and  greatly  improved  in 
Pats.  No.  425,140,  April  8,  1890;  Nos.  436,531  and  436,- 
532,  Sept.  16,  1890,  and  No.  438,354,  Oct.  14,  1890.  It  is 
shown  in  the  accompanying  illustration  (Fig.  130).  By 
manipulating  the  keyboard,  which  resembles  that  of  a 
typewriter,  each  lettered  key  is  made  to  bring  down  from 
an  inclined  elevated  magazine  a  little  brass  plate  of  the 
shape  shown  in  Fig.  131,  and  which  plate  is  called  a  ma- 
trix, because  it  bears  on  its  edge  at  x  a  mould  of  the  type 

LINOTYPE  MATRIX,  ietter-  There  is  a  matrix  plate  for  every  letter  and  char- 
acter used.  These  little  matrices  are  spaced  by  wedges, 

as  seen  in  Fig.  132,  and  are  assembled,  as  in  Fig.  133,  along  the  side  of 

a  mould  wheej  having  a  slot  in  it  which  forms  a  channel  between  the 

aligned     type-moulds 

or   matrices     on    one 

side  and  the  dis- 
charge mouth  of  a 

melting  pot,  in  which 

molten  type   metal  is 

maintained  in  a  fluid 

state  by   a   subjacent 

gas-burner.       In    the 

melting  pot  there  is  a 

cylinder  and  plunger, 

and  when  the  plunger 

descends,  it  forces  the 

molten       metal       up 

through  the  discharge 

spout    into    the    slot 

of   the   mould   wheel, 

and  against  the  letter 

mould  .r  of  each  one 

of    the    composed    or 

aligned  matrices.  The 

wheel   is  then  turned 

with  the  matrices,  and  the  metal  in  its  slot  is  afterwards  discharged  in  the 

form  of  a  linotype  slug,  seen  in  Fig.  134,  which  is  a  metal  plate  bearing 


PACING  OF  ASSEMBLED  LINE  OF  MATRICES. 


168  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

on  its  edge  a  completely  moulded  line  of  type  ready  for  setting  up  in  the 
form  for  printing.  The  jagged  notches  in  the  tops  of  the  matrices  (Fig. 
.131)  are  for  co-operation  with  a  distributer  bar  (not  easily  explained) 
for  restoring  the  matrices  to  their  appropriate  magazines  after  being  used. 
There  are  altogether  about  1,500  of  the  little  brass  matrices.  The  machine 
is  about  five  feet  square,  weighs  1,750  pounds,  and  costs  $3,000  each.  Not- 
withstanding this  expense  these  Linotype  machines  have  to-day  made 
their  way  into  nearly  all  the  daily  newspaper  offices  of  the  civilized  world, 


COMPOSED 
MATRICES 


MOLD 
WHEEL 


FIG.    133. — CASTING  THE  LINE. 

even  to  Australia  and  the  Hawaiian  Islands.  In  the  composing  rooms  of 
the  daily  newspapers  and  the  larger  book  printing  offices  we  find  great 
rows  of  these  Linotype  machines,  each  doing  the  work  of  from  four  to  five 
men.  There  are  now  in  use  in  America  something  over  5,000  Linotype 
machines ;  and  in  other  countries  about  2,000,  making  7,000  in  all.  Each 
machine  may  be  adjusted  in  five  minutes  to  produce  any  size  or  style  of 
type,  and  it  gives  new,  clean  faces  for  each  day's  issue,  with  none  of  the 
ordinary  troubles  of  distributing  type.  The  cheapness  of  composition,  due 
to  the  machine,  has  led  to  an  enormous  increase  in  the  size  of  papers,  in 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  169 

the  frequency  of  the  editions,  and  has  correspondingly  increased  the  de- 
mand for  labor  in  all  the  attendant  lines,  such  as  paper-making,  press-mak- 
ing, the  attendants  on  presses,  stereotyping,  etc.  In  the  Boston  Library, 
which  keeps  its  catalogues  printed  up  to  within  24  hours  of  date,  the  Lin- 
otypes print  in  23  languages. 

When  the  Linotype  machine  was  first  patented  it  was  not  regarded  by 
printers  generally  as  a  practical  machine,  but  only  one  of  the  many  com- 
plicated, theoretical,  but  impracticable  organizations  which  the  Patent 
Office  has  to  deal  with.  Its  history,  however,  has  been  unique.  It  is  prac- 
tically the  product  of  the  brain  of  a  single  man,  Ottmar  Mergenthaler,  a 
most  ingenious  and  indefatigable  inventor  living  in  Baltimore.  It  was  ex- 
ploited under  the  powerful  patronage  of  a  syndicate  of  newspaper  men,  and 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  were  spent  in  perfecting  it  before  any 
practical  results  were  obtained.  To-day  it  stands  a  triumph  of  human 
ingenuity,  ranking  in 
importance  with  the 
rotary  web-perfecting 
press,  and  is  probably 
the  most  ingenious 
piece  of  practical  me- 
chanism in  existence.  FIG-  :34-— A  LINOTYPE. 

Of  the  three  forms  of  printing  attention  has  been  given  thus  far  only  to 
the  leading  branch  of  the  art,  which  is  type  printing,  or  "letter  press,"  as 
it  is  called,  in  which  the  characters  are  raised  in  relief  and  receive  ink  on 
their  raised  surfaces  only.  A  second  branch  of  the  art  is  plate  printing,  in 
which  the  lines  and 'characters  are  engraved  in  intaglio  in  a  plate,  and 
which,  being  covered  with  ink,  and  the  surface  of  the  plate  wiped  clean, 
leaves  the  ink  in  the  undercuts,  which  is  taken  up  by  the  paper  when  pres- 
sure is  applied  through  a  roller.  Plate  printing  is  a  very  old  art,  the  plate 
printing  press  having  been  ascribed  to  Tomasso  Finiguerra,  of  Florence,  in 
1460.  The  reciprocating  table  bearing  the  engraved  plate,  and  the  super- 
posed pressure  roller  turned  by  hand  through  its  long  radial  arms,  is  an 
ancient  and  familiar  form  of  press  which  has  been  in  use  for  many  years. 
This  method  of  printing  finds  application  in  fine  line  engraving  in  works 
of  art,  card  invitations,  and  bank  note  engraving.  Very  ingenious  auto- 
matic machines  have  been  invented  and  were  in  use  a  few  years  ago  by  the 
United  States  Government  for  printing  its  bank  notes,  but  have  since  been 
displaced  by  the  old  hand  machines.  To  the  credit  of  the  machine,  it 
should  be  said,  that  it  was  from  no  fault  in  the  machine  that  this  retro- 
grade step  was  taken,  but  rather  the  disfavor  of  the  labor  organizations. 


170  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INl'ENTIOA 

Lithography  is  another  and  quite  important  branch  of  the  printing  art, 
in  which  the  lines  and  characters  are  drawn  upon  stone  with  a  kind  of  oily 
ink  to  which  printers'  ink  will  adhere,  while  it  is  repelled  from  the  other 
moistened  surfaces  of  the  stone.  Lithography  was  invented  in  1798  by 
Alois  Senefelder.  of  Munich.  It  finds  its  greatest  application  in  artistic  and 
fanciful  work  in  inks  of  various  colors,  and  its  development  into  chromo- 
lithography  in  the  Nineteenth  Century  has  grown  into  a  fine  art.  Our 
beautifully  colored  chromos,  prints,  labels,  maps,  etc.,  are  made  by  this 
process.  A  more  recent  and  quite  important  development  of  this  art  is 
photo-lithography,  which  will  be  more  fully  considered  under  photography. 

Many  collateral  branches  of  the  printing  art  are  interesting  in  their  deT 
velopment,  such  as  calico  printing,  the  printing  of  wall  papers,  of  oil  cloth, 
printing  for  the  blind,  book  binding,  type  founding,  and  folding  and  ad- 
dressing machines,  but  lack  of  space  forbids  more  than  a  casual  mention. 

Printing  is  perhaps  the  greatest  of  all  the  arts  of  civilization,  and  the 
libraries  and  newspapers  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  attest  its  value.  If 
Benjamin  Franklin  could  wake  from  his  long  sleep  and  enter  the  compos- 
ing rooms  of  our  great  dailies,  and  witness  the  imposing  array  of  linotype 
machines,  more  resembling  a  machine  shop  than  a  printing  office,  and  then 
visit  the  press  room  and  see  the  avalanche  of  finished  papers  flying  at  the 
rate  of  1,600  a  minute,  neatly  folded,  and  counted  for  delivery,  he  would 
doubtless  be  overwhelmed  with  emotions  of  wonder  and  incredulity,  for 
broad-minded  man  as  he  was,  he  could  have  no  conception  of  such  prog- 
ress. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  171 


CHAPTER  Xiy. 
THE  TYPEWRITER. 

OLD  ENGLISH  TYPEWRITER  OF  1714 — THE  BURT  TYPEWRITER  OF  1829 — PROGIN'S 
FRENCH  MACHINE  OF  1833 — THURBER'S  PRINTING  MACHINE  OF  1843 — THE  BEACH 
TYPEWRITER — THE  SHOLES  TYPEWRITER,  THE  FIRST  OF  THE  MODERN  FORM,  COM- 
MERCIALLY DEVELOPED  INTO  THE  REMINGTON — THE  CALIGRAPH — SMITH-PREMIER 
—THE  BOOK  TYPEWRITER  AND  OTHERS. 

OCCUPYING  an    intermediate  place    between  the    old-fashioned 
scribe  and  the  printer,  the  typewriter  has  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  Nineteenth  Century    established  a  distinct  and  important 
avocation,  and  has  become  a  necessary  factor  in  modern  busi- 
ness life.    Chirography,  or  hand  writing,  reflecting,  as  it  did,  the  idiosyn- 
crasies of  each  writer,  was  not  only  slow,  but  when  employed  was,  in  most 
cases,  in  the  haste  and  press  of  active  business  reduced  to  an  illegible 
scrawl.     For  the  use  of  reporters  and  others  requiring  extra  speed,  sten- 
ography, or  short  hand,  was  resorted  to,  but  there  was  a  distinct  need  for 
some  easy,  quick,  legible,  and  uniform  record  of  the  busy  man's  corre- 
spondence and  copy  work,  and  this  the  modern  typewriter  has  supplied. 

Like  most  other  important  inventions,  the  typewriter  did  not  spring  in- 
to existence  all  at  once,  for  while  the  practical  embodiment  in  really  useful 
machines  has  only  taken  place  since  about  1868,  there  had  been  many  ex- 
periments and  some  success  attained  at  a  much  earlier  date.  The  British 
patent  to  Henry  Mills.  No.  395  of  1714,  is  the  earliest  record  of  efforts  in 
this  direction.  At  this  early  date  no  drawings  were  attached  to  patents, 
and  the  specification  dwells  more  on  the  function  of  the  machine  than  the 
instrumentalities  employed.  No  record  of  the  construction  of  this  machine 
remains  in  existence,  and  it  may  fairly  be  considered  a  lost  art.  In  quaint 
and  old-fashioned  English,  the  patent  specification  proceeds  as  follows : 

"ANNE,  by  the  grace  of  God,  &c.,  to  all  whom  these  presents  shall 
come,  greeting:  WHEREAS,  our  trusty  and  well-beloved  subject,  Henry 
Mills,  hath  by  his  humble  peticon  represented  vnto  vs,  that  he  has  by  his 
greate  study,  paines,  and  expence,  lately  invented,  and  brought  to  perfec- 
tion "An  Artificial  Machine  or  Method  for  the  Impressing  or  Transcrib- 
ing Letters  Singly  or  Progressively  one  after  another  as  in  Writing, 


172 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


whereby  all  Writing  whatever  may  be  Engrossed  in  Paper  or  Parchment 
so  Neat  and  Exact  as  not  to  be  Distinguished  from  Print,  that  the  said 
Machine  or  Method,  may  be  of  greate  vse  in  Settlements  and  Publick 
Recors,  the  Impression  being  deeper  and  more  Lasting  that  any  other 
Writing,  and  not  to  be  erased,  or  Counterfeited  without  Manifest  Discov- 
ery, and  having  therefore  humbly  prayed  vs  to  grant  him  our  Royall  Let- 
ters Patents,  for  the  sole  vse  of  his  said  Invention  for  the  term  of  fourteen 
yea  res." 

"Know  Yee,  that  wee,"  etc. 

The  first  American  typewriter  of  which  any  record  remains  is  that  de- 
scribed in  the  patent  granted  to  W.  A.  Burt,  July  23,  1829.  It  was  called  a 
"Typographer."  It  had  a  segment 'bearing  the  letters  of  the  alphabet  and 


FIG.   135. — FRENCH  TYPEWRITER,   1833. 

corresponding  notches  acting  as  an  index.  A  superposed  lever,  which 
could  be  worked  up  and.  down,  and  also  moved  laterally,  was  provided 
with  a  series  of  type,  arranged  in  a  segmental  curve,  so  that  any  type 
could  be  brought  into  place  on  the  subjacent  paper  by  swinging  the  lever 
over  to  and  down  into  the  proper  notch  in  the  index  segment  below.  A  re- 
stored model  of  this  is  to  be  found  in  the  U.  S.  Patent  Office. 

The  first  organized  typewriter  in  which  separate  key  levers  were  pro- 
vided for  each  type  is  a  French  invention.  It  is  to  be  found  in  the  French 
patent  to  M.  Progin  (Xavier),  of  Marseilles,  No.  3,748,  Sept.  6,  1833 
(Brevets  d'Invention,  Vol.  37,  ist  Series,  pi.  36).  It  was  called  a  Typo- 
graphic Machine,  and  is  shown  in  the  illustration  (Fig.  135).  Upright 
key  levers  s  are  arranged  in  a  circle  around  a  circular  plate  n.  They  have 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  173 

hook-shaped  handles  at  the  upper  end,  and  terminate  below  in  forks  that 
are  pivoted  to  the  shanks  of  type  hammers,  to  raise  and  lower  them.  These 
hammers  are  inked  from  a  pad,  and  at  a  central  point  deliver  a  printing 
blow  on  the  paper  below.  The  paper  is  held  stationary,  and  the  whole  nest 
of  levers  was  moved  over  the  paper  for  each  letter  printed.  The  circular 
index  plate  n  had  marked  on  it  opposite  the  respective  levers  the  letters 
and  characters  represented  by  said  levers.  Besides  printing  letters,  the  de- 
vice was  to  be  used  for  printing  music,  and  for  making  stereotype  plates. 


.  t 


FIG.   136. — THURBER  TYPEWRITER. 

On  Aug.  26,  1843,  Charles  Thurber,  of  Worcester,  Mass.,  took  out  Pat. 
No.  3,228  for  a  Printing  Machine.  Under  the  patent  he  constructed  the 
machine  shown  in  Fig.  136.  This  differed  somewhat  from  the  form  shown 
in  his  patent,  in  that  the  machine  shows  a  paper  feed  roller  which  does  not 
appear  in  the  patent.  This  machine  was  found  among  the  effects  of  Mr. 
Thurber  after  having  lain  neglected  and  unnoticed  for  many  years,  and 
its  damaged  parts  were  restored  by  Mr.  H.  R.  Cummings,  of  Worcester. 
The  types  are  carried  on  the  lower  ends  of  a  circular  series  of  depressible 
bars,  which  are  spring  seated  in  a  horizontal  rotatable  wheel.  By  turning 
the  wheel  any  type  can  be  brought  to  the  front,  and  a  stationary  guide 
controls  its  descent  as  it  makes  the  impression.  An  inking  roller  is  seen 
on  the  right,  which  inks  the  faces  of  the  type.  In  front  of  the  type  wheel 


174  THE  PROGRESS  OF  IN  I' EXT  TON 

is  a  horizontal  roller  to  which  the  sheet  of  paper  is  attached  by  clips.  Fin- 
ger pawls,  working  into  ratchets  at  the  ends  of  the  roller,  serve  to  rotate  it 
after. each  line  is  printed.  By  means  of  a  handle,  seen  projecting  from  the 
right  hand  side  of  the  frame,  the  roller  is  shifted  longitudinally  on  its  axis 
rod  after  each  letter  has  been  printed.  This  appears  to  be  the  first  embodi- 
ment of  the  feed  roller  rotating  to  bring  a  new  line  into  range,  and  having 
also  a  longitudinal  feed,  but  as  these  movements  were  required  to  be  sepa- 
rately executed  by  the  operator,  the  work  of  the  machine  was  necessarily 
very  slow.  Just  at  what  time  this  old  Thurber  machine  was  constructed  it 
is  impossible  to  state  in  the  light  of  present  information,  but  as  the  feed 
roller  did  not  appear  in  Thurber's  patent  of  1843,  it  is  possible  that  the 
claim  to  authorship  of  the  feed  roller  having  both  a  rotary  and  a  longitu- 
dinal movement  may  be  maintained  in  behalf  of  J.  Jones,  whose  Pat.  No. 
8,980  of  June  i,  1852,  appears  to  be  the  first  dated  record  of  such  a  feed 
roller.  Jones  was  also  the  first  to  provide  a  spring  to  automatically  retract 
the  paper  carriage  to  the  position  for  beginning  a  new  line,  the  spring  be- 
ing put  under  tension  by  the  movement  of  the  paper  carriage  in  printing. 
Prominent  among  those  whose  genius  has  served  to  perfect  the  type- 
writer occurs  the  name  of  A.  E.  Beach,  for  many  years  of  the  firm  of  Munn 
&  Co.,  and  well  known  to  the  readers  of  the  Scientific  American.  Mr. 
Beach's  first  model  of  a  typewriter  was  made  in  1847.  It  printed  upon 
a  sheet  of  paper  supported  on  a  roller,  carried  in  a  sliding  frame  worked 
by  a  ratchet  and  pawl.  It  had  a  weight  for  running  the  frame,  letter  and 
line  spacing  keys,  paper  feeding  devices,  line  signal  bell,  and  carbon  tissue. 
It  had  a  series  of  finger  keys  connected  with  printing  levers  which  were  ar- 
ranged in  a  circle,  and  struck  at  a  common  center.  This  machine  was  said 
to  have  worked  well,  but  was  laid  aside  for  further  improvement.  In  the 
meantime  he  constructed  a  typewriter  to  print  in  raised  letters,  without  ink. 
This  machine,  which  was  intended  primarily  for  the  use  of  the  blind,  is 
illustrated  in  Figs.  137  and  138.  It  was  first  publicly  exhibited  in  opera- 
tion at  the  Crystal  Palace  Exhibition  of  the  American  Institute  in  the  fall 
of  1856,  where  it  attracted  great  attention  and  took  the  gold  medal.  The 
embossed  letters  were  printed  on  a  ribbon  of  paper  which  ran  centrally 
through  the  machine.  The.  printing  levers  were  arranged  in  a  circle  in 
pairs,  one  riding  on  the  top  of  the  other.  When  the  operator  pressed  a  key, 
the  two  printing  levers  of  each  pair  answering  to  the  letter  key  were 
brought  together,  the  paper  being  between  them.  The  printing  type  were 
at  the  extremities  of  the  levers,  one  lever  having  a  raised  letter,  and  its 
mate  a  sunken  or  intaglio  letter,  which,  seizing  the  paper  strip  between 
them,  like  the  jaws  of  a  pair  of  pincers,  impressed  therein  an  embossed  let- 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


175 


ter.  The  patent  for  this  machine  was  granted  June  24,  1856,  No.  15,164, 
but  the  machine  showed  a  much  higher  degree  of  development  than  ap- 
peared in  the  patent.  This  machine  was  the  earliest  representative  of  the 
circular  basket  of  radially  swinging  type  levers,  combined  with  finger  keys 
assembled  in  a  keyboard  at  one  side,  which  is  now  an  almost  universal  fea- 

i         ^^:^^M,^*s;^^g^.^      -          •  


FIG.    1(37. — BEACH  TYPEWRITER. 

ture,  and  the  suggestion  which  it  handed  down  to  subsequent  inventors 
has  doubtless  done  much  to  make  the  typewriter  the  practical  machine  that 
it  is  to-day. 

Up  to  the  year  1868,  however,  typewriting  machines  were  mere  illustra- 
tions of  sporadic  genius  occuring  here  and  there  as  the  pet  hobby  of  some 


176 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


humanitarian  seeking  to  help  the  blind,  or  supplement  the  deficiencies  of 
the  tremulous  fingers  of  the  paralytic.  It  had  not  yet  come  to  be  regarded 
as  of  any  special  use,  nor  had  even  the  demand  for  such  a  device  been  for- 
cibly felt,  until  the  last  quarter  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  began  to  accu- 
mulate its  wonderful  momentum  of  progress  and  prosperity.  The  man 
whose  genius  finally  brought  forth  a  practical  typewriter,  and  made  a  per- 
manent place  for  it  in  the  daily  business  of  the  world,  was  C.  Latham 
Sholes.  As  joint  inventor  with  C.  Glidden  and  S.  W.  Soule,  all  of  Milwau- 
kee, he  took  out  patents  No.  79,265,  of  June  23,  1868,  and  No.  79,868,  of 


FIG.    138. — CENTRAL  SECTION  OF  BEACH  TYPEWRITER. 

July  14,  1868.  These,  together  with  Sholes'  Pat.  No.  118,491,  of  Aug.  29, 
18/1,  formed  the  working  basis  of  the  first  typewriters  that  went  into  office 
use..  These  typewriters  were  first  introduced  to  the  general  public  under  the 
management  of  the  original  inventors  (Sholes,  Soule  and  Glidden)  about 
1873,  and  at  first  used  only  capital  letters.  On  Aug.  27,  1878,  a  further 
patent,  No.  207,559,  was  granted  to  Sholes,  and  about  this  time,  after  five 
years  of  uncertain  and  precarious  business  existence,  the  machine  was 
taken  for  manufacture  to  E.  Remington  &  Sons,  at  Ilion,  N.  Y.  Since  this 
time  the  well-known  "Remington"  has  built  up  for  itself  a  reputation  and 
a  commercial  importance  that  has  given  it  first  place  among  typewriters. 
In  the  nine  years  from  1873  to  1882,  it  is  said  that  less  than  8,000  ma- 
chines had  been  manufactured.  In  the  year  1882  Wyckoff,  Seamans  & 
Benedict  obtained  control  of  the  machine,  and  during  the  fourteen  years 
following  it  is  said  that  nearly  200,000  "Remingtons"  were  made  and  sold. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


177 


FIG.   139. — REMINGTON  TYPEWRITER. 


It  is  said  that  i.ooo  men  are  now  employed  in  making  this  machine,  and 
that  the  present  output  is  about  800  machines  a  week,  despite  the  fact  that 
it  has  a  half  dozen  worthy  competitors  for  public  favor.  The  modern  Rem- 
ington, seen  in  Fig. 
139,  is  too  well  known 
to  require  special  de- 
scription. Besides 
the  Sholes  patents,  it 
embodies  the  im- 
provements covered 
by  patents  to  Clough 
&  Jenne,  Xo.  199,263, 
Jan.  15,  1878;  Jenne, 
No.  478,964,  July  12, 
1892,  and  No.  548,- 
553.  Oct.  22,  1895, 
and  also  a  patent  to 
Brooks,  No.  202,923, 
April  30,  1878,  a 
characteristic  feature 
of  which  latter  is  the  location  of  both  a  capital  and  small  letter  on  the  same 
striking  lever,  and  the  shifting  of  the  paper  roller  by  a  key  to  bring  either 
the  large  or  small  letter  into  printing  range. 

The  earliest  rival  of  the  Reming- 
ton was  the  Caligraph,  made  by  the 
American  Writing  Machine  Co.  This 
well-known  machine,  introduced  in 
the  decade  of  the  eighties,  was  made 
under  the  patents  of  G.  Y.  N.  Yost, 
March  18,  1884,  No.  295,469;  March 
17,  1885,  No.  313,973;  and  July  30, 
1889,  No.  408,061.  The  most  modern 
form  of  the  Caligraph  is  known  as  the 
"New  Century,"  which  is  shown  in 
the  accompanying  illustration,  Fig. 
140.  The  Caligraph  uses  a  separate 
type  lever  and  key  for  each  letter, 
and  by  a  system  of  compound  key  levers  the  touch  is  rendered  easy,  even, 
and  elastic,  and  perfect  alignment  and  freedom  from  noise  are  among  the 
objects  sought  in  its  mechanical  construction. 


FIG.   140.— NEW  CENTURY  CALIGRAPH. 


178 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


Xext  among  the  earlier  typewriters  is  to  be  mentioned  the  "Hammond," 
made  under  the  patents  to- J.  B.  Hammond,  No.  224,088,  Feb.  8,  1880,  and 
290,419,  Dec.  18,  1883.  A  distinguishing  feature  of  the  machine  is  that  the 
printed  work  is  in  full  view,  so  that  the  operator  can  see  what  he  is  doing. 
The  impression  is  made  by  an  oscillating  type  wheel,  to  which  a  variable 
throw  is  imparted  by  the  key  letters  to  bring  any  desired  letter  into  print- 
ing position.  When  the  letter  is  brought  into  printing  position  a  hammer, 


FIG.    141. — SMITH-PREMIER  TYPE  BAR   RING. 

arranged  in  the  rear  of  the  sheet  of  paper,  is  made  to  force  the  latter 
against  the  type  to  produce  the  impression  by  the  same  movement  of  the 
key  that  brought  the  type  wheel  into  printing  position. 

Of  later  machines,  none  has  met  with  more  popular  favor  than  the 
Smith-Premier,  manufactured  under  the  patent  to  A.  T.  Brown,  No.  465,- 
451,  Dec.  22,  1891,  and  others.  A  leading  feature  of  this  is  the  type-bar 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


179 


ring  of  its  printing  mechanism.  In  all  typewriters  accurate  location  of  the 
impression  is  essential  to  proper  alignment  of  the  letters,  and  proper  align- 
ment is  the  sine  qua  non  of  typewriting.  The  old  pivoted  type  bars  were 


FIG.    142. — SMITH-PREMIER  AND  CLEANING  CRUSH. 

liable  to  wear  at  the  joint,  and  the  slightest  looseness  at  this  point  would  so 
multiply  the  lateral  play  at  the  end  carrying  the  type  that  the  letters  would 
soon  become  irregularly  placed  and  out  of  alignment.  In  the  Smith-Pre- 
mier this  is  reduced  to  a  minimum  by  making  a  short  type  bar,  and  ar- 


180  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

ranging  each  upon  an  oscillating  rock  shaft,  the  bearings  at  whose  ends 
are  so  widely  separated  as  to  permit  little  or  no  lateral  play  in  the  type  bar. 
A  view  of  this  type  bar  ring  with  tangentially  arranged  rock  shafts  dis- 
posed in  circular  series  is  seen  in  Fig.  141,  while  the  full  machine  is  given 
in  Fig.  142.  In  this  latter  view  there  is  also  shown  the  cleaning  brush  for 
quickly  cleaning  at  one  operation  all  of  the  types  of  the  outer  ring.  It  is 
simply  a  circular  brush  mounted  upon  the  end  of  a  tool  resembling  a  car- 
penter's brace,  and  is  a  useful  and  convenient  adjunct  to  the  machine. 

In  1891  the  "Densmore"  typewriter  first  made  its  appearance  before  the 
public.  It  was  named  after  James  and  Amos  Densmore,  who  had  been 
connected  with  typewriting  interests  from  the  time  of  Sholes'  first  practical 
machine.  The  Densmore  is  made  under  patents  to  A.  Densmore,  No.  507,- 
726  and  507,727,  of  Oct.  31,  1893.  It  has  ball-bearing  type  bar  joints,  giv- 
ing accurate  alignment  and  light  key  action,  the  platen  rolls  to  show  the 
work,  and  the  carriage  locks  at  the  end  of  the  line,  protecting  the  writing. 

Noted  for  its  clear,  sharp  print,  the  "Yost"  typewriter  comes  in  for  its 
share  of  praise.  It  is  made  under  the  patent  to  Felbel  and  Steiger,  March 
26,  1889,  No.  400,200.  It  does  not  employ  an  inked  ribbon  interposed  be- 
tween the  type  and  the  paper,  as  do  most  typewriters,  but  its  type-bearing 
levers,  when  at  rest,  occupy  a  position  in  which  the  type  are  all  arranged 
within  and  bear  against  a  circular  inking  ring  or  pad,  and  when  a  key  is 
struck,  its  lever,  by  a  peculiar  and  ingenious  movement,  leaves  the  inking 
pad,  moves  inward  and  backward  toward  the  center,  and  then  rises  and 
strikes  an  upwardly  directed  blow  in  the  center,  and  prints  the  letter  on 
the  paper.  As  the  printing  is  done  directly  from  the  type,  the  letters  are 
formed  with  sharp  and  clear  outlines  that  give  beauty  and  neatness  to  the 
print.  Alignment  is  insured  by  a  center  guide  hole  through  which  the  type 
end  of  the  lever  passes  in  striking  the  paper. 

Among  machines  of  simple  organization  may  be  mentioned  the  Blick- 
ensderfer,  which  is  a  wonderfully  simple  and 'effective  little  machine,  first 
made  under  the  patent  to  Blickensderfer,  No.  472,692,  April  12, 1892.  Like 
the  Hammond,  it  belongs  to  the  class  of  typewriters  which*  employ  a  rotary 
type  wheel,  which  is  given  a  variable  throw,  from  the  depression  of  the 
keys,  to  bring  the  proper  letter  into  printing  position  ;  but  unlike  the  Ham- 
mond, its  type  wheel  advances  to  contact  with  the  paper,  a  little  felt  ink- 
roller  being  brought  into  contact  with  the  type  wheel  to  ink  it  as  the  latter 
moves.  The  printed  work  is  in  full  view,  the  line  spacing  may  be  varied 
to  any  fractional  adjustment,  and  the  action  is  quite  free  from  noise.  With 
its  mechanism  reduced  to  the  fewest  and  simplest  parts,  the  whole  machine 
weighs  only  six  pounds,  and  it  differs  in  many  respects  from  the  ordinary 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  181 

typewriter.     Since  its  introduction  a  few  years  ago,  its  growth  in  popu- 
larity has  been  very  rapid. 

Another  recently  appearing  machine  is  the  "Oliver."  This  has  type 
bars  which  are  normally  above  the  work.  Each  bar  is  loop  shaped,  hinged 
at  its  lower  ends,  and  bearing  the  type  letter  on  the  bend  at  the  upper  end. 
They  are  arranged  in  two  series,  one  on  each  side  of  the  center,  and  in 
printing  each  loop  swings  down  like  the  wing  of  a  bird.  As  the  printing  is 
from  the  top,  and  the  ribbon  is  moved  away  from  in  front  of  the  line  im- 
mediately after  the  printing  blow,  the  writing  is  always  visible  to  the  oper- 
ator. This  machine  is  manufactured  under  various  patents  to  Thomas 
Oliver,  the  first  of  which  was  No.  450,107,  granted  April  7,  1891.  Further 
improvements  are  covered  by  subsequent  patents,  Nos.  528,484,  542,275, 
562,337,  and  599,863.  The  Oliver  has  made  many  friends  for  itself  by  its 


FIG.    143. — ELLIOTT   &    HATCH    BOOK   TYPEWRITER. 


fine  alignment  and  visible  writing,  and  shares  with  the  other  standard  ma- 
chines a  considerable  patronage. 

It  is  not  practicable  to  give  a  full  illustration  of  the  state  of  the  art  in 
typewriters,  as  it  has  grown  to  an  industry  of  large  proportions.  Nearly 
1,700  patents  have  been  granted  for  such  machines,  and  more  than  100  use- 
ful and  meritorious  machines  have  been  devised  and  put  upon  the  market. 
Among  these  may  be  mentioned  the  Hall,  Underwood,  Manhattan,  Wil- 
liams, Jewett,  and  many  others. 

Besides  the  regular  typewriters,  various  modifications  have  been  made 
to  suit  special  kinds  of  work.  The  "Comptometer"  used  in  banks  is  a 
species  of  typewriter,  as  is  also  the  Dudley  adding  and  subtracting  machine, 
known  as  the  "Numerograph,"  and  covered  by  patents  Nos.  554,993,  555,- 
038,  555>O39,  579,O47  and  579,048.  Typewriters  for  short  hand  characters, 
and  for  foreign  languages,  and  for  printing  on  record  and  blank  books,  are 
also  among  the  modern  developments  cf  this  art.  In  the  latter  the  whole 


182  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

carriage  and  system  of  type  levers  move  over  the  book.  The  Elliott  & 
Hatch  book  typewriter,  Fig.  143,  is  a  well-known  example.  In  attachments, 
holders  for  the  copy  have  received  considerable  attention,  and  simple  and 
practical  billing  and  tabulating  attachments  have  been  devised  which  expe- 
dite and  facilitate  the  statements  of  accounts  and  other  work  requiring  nu- 
meration in  columns.  The  Gorin  Tabulator  is  one  of  those  in  practical  use. 

In  point  of  speed  the  typewriter  depends  entirely  upon  the  aptness  of 
the  operator.  For  ordinary  copying  work,  where  much  time  is  occupied  in 
deciphering  the  illegible  scrawl,  probably  forty  words  a  minute  is  the  aver- 
age work.  When  taken  from  dictation,  seventy-five  words  a  minute  may 
be  written,  and  in  special  cases,  when  copying  from  memory,  a  speed  of 
150  words  a  minute  has  been  maintained  for  a  limited  time.  It  was  esti- 
mated that  there  were  in  use  in  the  United  States  in  1896  150,000  type- 
writers, and  that  up  to  that  time  450,000  had  been  made  altogether.  In  the 
last  four  years  this  number  has  been  greatly  increased,  and  a  fair  estimate 
of  the  present  output  in  the  United  States  is  between  75,000  and  100,000 
yearly.  In  1898  there  were  exported  from  the  United  States  typewriting 
machines  to  the  value  of  $1,902,153. 

The  typewriter  has  not  only  revolutionized  modern  business  methods, 
by  furnishing  a  quick  and  legible  copy  that  may  be  rapidly  taken  from 
dictation,  and  also  at  the  same  time  a  duplicate  carbon  copy  for  the  use  of 
the  writer,  but  it  has  established  a  distinct  avocation  especially  adapted  to 
the  deftness  and  skill  of  women,  who  as  bread  winners  at  the  end  of  the 
Nineteenth  Century  are  working  out  a  destiny  and  place  in  the  business 
activities  of  life  unthought  of  a  hundred  years  ago.  The  typewriter  saves 
time-,  labor,  postage  and  paper ;  it  reduces  the  liability  to  mistakes,  brings 
system  into  official  correspondence,  and  delights  the  heart  of  the  printer. 
It  furnishes  profitable  amusement  to  the  young,  and  satisfactory  aid  to  the 
nervous  and  paralytic.  All  over  the  world  it  has  already  traveled — from 
the  counting  house  of  the  merchant  to  the  Imperial  Courts  of  Europe,  from 
the  home  of  the  new  woman  in  the  Western  Hemisphere  to  the  harem  of 
the  East — everywhere  its  familiar  click  is  to  be  heard,  faithfully  translating 
1 1 -ought  into  all  languages,  and  for  all  peoples. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  183 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  SEWING  MACHINE. 

EMBROIDERING  MACHINE,  THE  FORERUNNER  OF  THE  SEWING  MACHINE — SEWING  MA- 
CHINE OF  THOMAS  SAINT — THE  THIMONNIER  WOODEN  MACHINE — GREENOUGH'S 
DOUBLE  POINTED  NEEDLE — BEAN'S  STATIONARY  NEEDLE — THE  HOWE  SEWING 
MACHINE— BACHELDER'S  CONTINUOUS  FEED — IMPROVEMENTS  OF  SINGER — WIL- 
SON'S ROTARY  HOOK  AND  FOUR-MOTION  FEED — THE  McKAY  SHOE  SEWING  MA- 
CHINE—BUTTONHOLE MACHINES — CARPET  SEWING  MACHINE — STATISTICS. 

"With  fingers  weary  and  worn, 
With  eyelids  heavy  and  red, 
A  woman  sat  in  unwomanly  rags, 
Plying  her  needle  and  thread — 
Stitch!  Stitch!  Stitch! 
In  poverty,  hunger  and  dirt, 
And  still  with  a  voice  of  dolorous  pitch, 
She  sang  the  'Song  of  the  Shirt.'  " 

IN  1844  Thomas  Hood  wrote  and  published  his  famous  "Song  of  the 
Shirt,"  in  which  the  drudgery  of  the  needle  is  portrayed  with  pathetic 
fidelity.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  any  relation  of  cause  and  effect 
exists  between  the  events,  but  it  is  nevertheless  a  singular  fact  that 
about  this  time  Howe  commenced  work  on  his  great  invention,  which  was 
patented  in  1846,  and  was  the  prototype  of  the  modern  sewing  machine.  If 
the  sewing  machine  had  appeared  a  few  years  earlier,  the  "Song  of  the 
Shirt"  would  doubtless  never  have  been  written. 

From  the  time  of  Mother  Eve,  who  crudely  stitched  together  her  fig 
leaves,  sewing  seems  to  have  been  set  apart  as  an  occupation  peculiarly  be- 
longing to  women,  and  it  may  be  that  this  was  the  reason  why  in  the  his- 
tory of  mechanical  progress  the  sewing  machine  was  so  late  appearing,  fqr 
women  are  not,  as  a  rule,  inventors,  and  none  of  the  sewing  machines  were 
invented  by  women. 

In  all  the  preceding  centuries  of  civilization  hand  sewing  was  exclu- 
sively employed,  and  it  was  reserved  for  the  Nineteenth  Century  to  relieve 
women  from  the  drudgery  which  for  so  many  centuries  had  enslaved  them. 


184  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

Embroidery  machines  had  been  patented  in  England  by  Weisenthal  in 
1755,  and  Alsop  in  1770,  and  on  July  17, 1790,  an  English  patent,  No.  1,764, 
was  granted  to  Thomas  Saint  for  a  crude  form  of  sewing  machine,  having 
a  horizontal  arm  and  vertical  needle.  In  1826  a  patent  was  granted  in  the 
United  States  to  one  Lye  for  a  sewing  machine,  but  no  records  of  the  same 
remain,  as  all  were  burned  in  the  fire  of  1836.  In  1830  B.  Thimonnier  pat- 
ented a  sewing  machine  in  France,  80  of  which,  made  of  wood,  were  in  use 
in  1841  for  sewing  army  clothing,  but  they  were  destroyed  by  a  mob,  as 
many  other  labor-saving  inventions  had  been  before.  Between  1832  and 
J835  Walter  Hunt,  of  New  York,  made  a  lock-stitch  sewing  machine,  but 
abandoned  it.  On  Feb.  21,  1842,  U.  S.  Pat.  No.  2,466  was  granted  to  J.  J. 
Greenough  for  a  sewing  machine  having  a  double  pointed  needle  with  an 
eye  in  the  middle,  which  needle  was  drawn  through  the  work  by  pairs  of 
traveling  pincers.  It  was  designed  for  sewing  leather,  and  an  awl  pierced 
the  hole  in  advance  of  the  needle.  On  March  4,  1843,  U.  S.  Pat.  No.  2,982 
was  granted  to  B.  W.  Bean  for  a  sewing  machine  in  which  the  needle  was 
stationary,  and  the  cloth  was  gathered  in  crimps  or  folds  and  forced  over 
the  stationary  needle.  In  1844,  British  Pat.  No.  10,424  was  granted  to 
Fisher  and  Gibbons  for  working  ornamental  designs  by  machinery,  in 
which  two  threads  were  looped  together,  one  passing  through  the  fabric, 
and  the  other  looping  with  it  on  the  surface  without  passing  through. 

The  great  epoch  of  the  sewing  machine,  however,  begins  with  Elias 
Howe  and  the  sewing  machine  patented  by  him  Sept.  10,  1846,  No.  4,750. 
Almost  everyone  is  familiar  with  the  modern  Howe  sewing  machine,  and 
it  will  be  therefore  more  interesting  to  present  the  form  in  which  it  origin- 
ally appeared.  This  is  shown  in  Fig.  144.  A  curved  eye-pointed  needle 
was  carried  at  the  end  of  a  pendent  vibrating  lever,  which  had  a  motion 
simulating  that  of  a  pick-ax  in  the  hands  of  a  workman.  The  needle 
took  its  thread  from  a  spool  situated  above  the  lever,  and  the  tension  on  the 
thread  was  produced  by  a  spring  brake  whose  semicircular  end  bore  upon 
the  spool,  the  pressure  being  regulated  by  a  vertical  thumb  screw.  The 
work  was  held  in  a  vertical  plane  by  means  of  a  horizontal  row  of  pins  pro- 
jecting from  the  edge  of  a  thin  metal  "baster  plate,"  to  which  an  inter- 
mittent motion  was  given  by  the  teeth  of  a  pinion.  Above,  and  to  one  side 
of  the  "baster  plate"  was  the  shuttle  race,  through  which  the  shuttle  carry- 
ing the  second  thread  was  driven  by  two  strikers,  which  were  operated  by 
two  arms  and  cams  located  on  the  horizontal  main  shaft.  As  will  be  seen, 
this  machine  bears  but  little  resemblance  to  any  of  the  modern  machines, 
but  it  embodied  the  three  essential  features  which  characterize  most  all 
practical  machines,  viz. :  a  grooved  needle  with  the  eye  at  the  point,  a  shut- 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


185 


tie  operating  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  cloth  from  the  needle  to  form  a 
lock  stitch,  and  an  automatic  feed. 

Howe  first  commenced  his  work  on  the  sewing  machine  in  1844,  and 
although  he  had  made  a  rough  model  of  that  date,  he  was  too  poor  to  fol- 
low it  up  with  more  practical  results  until  a  former  schoolmate,  George 


FIG.    144. — HOWE'S  SEWING  MACHINE,   1846. 


Fisher,  provided  $500  to  build  a  machine  and  support  his  family  while  it 
was  being  constructed,  in  consideration  of  which  Mr.  Fisher  was  to  receive 
a  half  interest  in  the  invention.  In  April,  1845,  the  machine  was  com- 
pleted, and  in  July  he  sewed  two  suits  of  clothes  on  it,  one  for  Mr.  Fisher 


186  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

and  the  other  for  himself.  Notwithstanding  the  success  of  his  machine, 
which  on  public  exhibition  beat  five  of  the  swiftest  hand  sewers,  he  met 
only  discouragement  and  disappointment.  He,  however,  built  a  second  ma- 
chine, which  was  the  basis  of  his  patent,  and  is  the  one  shown  in  the  illus- 
tration. After  obtaining  his  United  States  patent  Howe  went  to  England 
with  the  hope  of  introducing  his  machine  there,  but,  failing,  he  returned  to 
America,  some  years  later,  only  to  find  that  his  invention  had  been  taken 
up  by  infringers,  and  that  sewing  machines  embodying  his  invention  were 
being  built  and  sold.  These  infringers  sought  to  break  his  patent  by  en- 
deavoring to  prove,  but  without  success,  that  Howe's  invention  was  an- 
ticipated by  the  abandoned  experiments  of  Walter  Hunt  in  1834.  Howe 
won  his  suit,  and  the  infringers  were  obliged  to  pay  him  royalties,  which, 


FIG.    I45-— WILSON    SEWING    MACHINE,    1852. 

for  a  time,  amounted  to  $25  on  each  machine.  Howe  then  bought  the  out- 
standing interest  in  his  patent,  established  a  factory  in  New  York,  and 
from  the  profits  of  his  manufacture,  and  the  royalties,  he  soon  reaped  a 
princely  fortune  of  several  million  dollars.  In  six  years  his  royalties  had 
grown  from  $300  to  $200,000  a  year,  and  in  1863  his  royalties  were  esti- 
mated at  $4,000  a  day. 

A  patent  that  occupied  an  important  place  in  sewing  machine  feeds 
was  that  granted  to  Bachelder  May  8,  1849,  No.  6,439,  in  which  a  spiked 
and  endless  belt  passed  horizontally  around  two  pulleys.  This  patent  con- 
tained the  first  continuous  feed,  and  it  was  re-issued  and  extended,  and 
ran  with  dominating  claims  on  the  continuous  feed,  until  1877. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


187 


In  connection  with  the  development  of  the  sewing  machine  the  name 
of  A.  B.  Wilson  stands  next  in  rank  to  that  of  Howe.  Wilson  invented 
the  rotary  hook  carrying  a  bobbin,  which  took  the  place  of  the  reciprocat- 
ing shuttle.  This  was  patented  by  him  June  15,  1852,  No.  9,041,  and  is 
shown  in  Fig.  145.  He  also  invented  the  far  more  important  improvement 
of  the  four-motion  feed,  which  is  a  characteristic  feature  of  nearly  all  prac- 
tical family  sewing  machines.  This  four-motion  feed  was  pooled  in  the 
early  sewing  machine  combination  with  the  Bachelder  and  other  patents, 
and  earned  for  its  promotors  a  far  greater  pecuniary  return  than  the  origi- 
nal Howe  sewing  machine  itself.  Estimates  place  this  profit  high  in  the 
millions.  The  four-motion 
feed  was  patented  December 
19,  1854,  No.  12,1 16,  and 
it  is  a  comparatively 
simple  affair.  Divested  of  its 
operating  mechanism,  it  con- 
sists simply  of  a  little  metal  bar 
serrated  with  forwardly  pro- 
jecting saw  teeth  on  its  upper 
surface,  to  which  bar,  by 
means  of  an  operating  cam,  a 
motion  in  four  directions  in 
the  path  of  a  rectangle  is 
given.  The  serrated  bar  first 
rises  through  a  slot  in  the 
table,  then  moves  horizontally 
to  advance  the  cloth,  then 
drops  below  the  table, 
and  finally  moves  back  again  horizontally  below  the  table  to  its  starting 
point. 

Upon  these  two  important  features — the  rotating  hook  patented  by 
Wilson  in  1852,  and  the  four-motion  feed,  patented  in  1854 — a  large 
and  important  business  was  built.  In  this  business  Mr.  Nathaniel  Wheeler 
was  associated  with  Mr.  Wilson,  and  the  well-known  Wheeler  &  Wilson 
machines  are  the  result  of  their  enterprise  and  ingenuity. 

Contemporaneous  with  the  Wheeler  &  Wilson  machine  were  other  ex- 
cellent machines,  among  which  may  be  mentioned  the  Singer  machine, 
patented  Aug.  12,  1851,  No.  8,294,  by  Isaac  M.  Singer,  the  original  model 
of  which  is  shown  in  Fig.  146.  The  Singer  machine  met  the  demands  of 
the  tailoring  and  leather  industries  for  a  heavier  and  more  powerful  ma- 


FIG.    146. — ORIGINAL  SINGER  SEWING  MACHINE. 


188  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

chine.  A  characteristic  feature  was  the  vertical  standard  with  horizontal 
arm  above  the  work  table,  which  was  afterwards  adopted  in  many  other 
machines.  Singer  was  the  first  to  apply  the  treadle  to  the  sewing  machine 
for  actuating  it  by  foot  power  in  the  place  of  the  hand-driven  crank  wheel. 
In  1851  W.  O.  Grover  and  W.  E.  Baker  patented  a  machine  which  made 
the  double  chain  stitch,  characteristic  of  the  Grover  &  Baker  machine. 
James  E.  A.  Gibbs  invented  and  covered  in  several  patents  from  1856  to 
1860  the  single-thread  rotating  hook,  which  was  embodied  in  the  Wilcox  & 
Gibbs  machine.  In  addition  to  these,  the  "Weed"  machine,  made  under 
Fairfield's  patents ;  the  "Domestic"  machine,  made  under  Mack's  patents ; 
and  the  "Florence"  machine,  made  under  Langdon's  patents,  were  other 
representative  machines,  which,  in  a  few  years  after  Howe's  patent,  helped 
to  revolutionize  the  art  of  tailoring,  introduced  the  great  era  of  ready-made 
clothing  and  ready-made  shoes,  emancipated  women  from  the  drudgery  of 
the  needle,  and  increased  the  efficiency  of  one  pair  of  hands  fully  ten  fold. 
In  1856  the  owners  of  the  original  sewing  machine  patents  formed  the 
famous  "sewing  machine  combination,"  for  the  establishment  of  a  common 
license  fee,  and  for  the  protection  of  their  mutual  interests.  The  com- 
bination included  Elias  Howe,  the  Wheeler  &  Wilson  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, the  Grover  &  Baker  Sewing  Machine  Company,  and  I.  M.  Singer  & 
Co.  The  following  summary  of  machines  made  by  the  leading  companies 
from  1853  to  1876  illustrates  the  early  growth  of  this  industry: 

Manufacturer.         1853.    l859-      l8^7-        l87r-         l873-        1876. 

Wheeler  &  Wilson 
Manufacturing  Co.  .  799  21,306  38,055  128,526  119,190  108,997 

The  Singer  Manufac- 
turing Company.  ..  810  10,953  43,053  181,260  232,444  262,316 

Grover  &  Baker  Sew- 
ing Machine  Co 657  10,280  32,999  50,838  36,179  

Howe  Sewing  Machine 

Company H,O53  134,010  90,000  109,294 

Wilcox  &  Gibbs  Sew- 
ing Machine  Co 14,152  30,127  15,881  12,758 

Domestic  Sewing  Ma- 
chine Company IO>397  40,114  23,587 

From  the  foregoing  table  it  will  be  seen  that  as  far  back  as  a  quarter  of 
a  century  ago  the  output  of  machines  was  over  a  half  a  million  a  year.    By 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  189 

1877  all  of  the  fundamental  patents  on  the  sewing  machine  had  expired, 
but  the  continued  activity  of  inventors  in  this  field  is  attested  by  the  fact 
that  to-day  there  are  many  thousands  of  patents  relating  to  the  sewing  ma- 
chine and  its  parts.  Besides  those  relating  to  the  organization  of  the 
machine  itself  there  is  an  endless  variety  of  attachments,  such  as  hemmers, 
tuckers,  fellers,  quilters,  binders,  gatherers  and  rufflers,  embroiderers,  cord- 
ers  and  button  hole  attachments.  Every  part  of  the  machine  has  also  re- 
ceived separate  attention  and  separate  patents,  all  tending  to  the  perfection 
of  the  machine,  until  to-day,  with  all  fundamental  principles  public  prop- 
erty, and  endless  improvements  in  details,  it  is  difficult  to  discriminate  as 
to  comparative  excellence. 

There  is  to-day  a  great  variety  of  sewing  machines  on  the  market, 
standard  machines  for  ordinary  work,  and  special  machines  for  numerous 
special  applications.  It  is  said  that  one  concern  alone  manufactures  over- 
four  hundred  different  varieties  of  sewing  machines. 

One  of  the  most  important  and  revolutionary  of  the  applications  of  the 
sewing  machine  is  for  making  shoes.  Prior  to  1861  shoemaking  was  con- 
fined to  the  slow,  laborious  hand  methods  of  the  shoemaker.  Cheap  shoes 
could  only  be  made  by  roughly  fastening  the  soles  to  the  uppers  by  wooden 
pegs,  whose  row  of  projecting  points  within  has  made  many  a  man  and  boy 
do  unnecessary  penance.  Hand  sewed  shoes  cost  from  $8  to  $12  a  pair, 
and  were  too  expensive  a  luxury  for  any  but  the  rich.  With  the  McKay 
shoe  sewing  machine  in  1861,  however,  comfortable  shoes  were  made,  with 
the  soles  strongly  and  substantially  sewed  to  the  uppers,  at  a  less  price  even 
than  the  coarse  and  clumsy  pegged  variety.  The  McKay  machine  was  the 
result  of  more  than  three  years  patient  study  and  work.  It  was  covered  by 
United  States  patents  No.  35,105,  April  29,  1862 ;  No.  35,165,  May  6,  1862 ; 
No.  36,163,  Aug.  12,  1862;  and  No.  45,422,  Dec.  13,  1864,  and  its  develop- 
ment cost  $130,000  before  practical  results  were  obtained.  A  modern  form 
of  it  is  shown  in  Fig.  147.  In  preparing  a  shoe  for  the  machine,  an  inner 
sole  is  placed  on  the  last,  the  upper  is  then  lasted  and  its  edges  secured  to 
the  inner  sole.  An  outer  sole,  channeled  to  receive  the  stitches,  is  then 
tacked  on  so  that  the  edges  of  the  upper  are  caught  and  retained  between 
the  two  soles.  The  shoe  is  then  placed  on  the  end-of  a  rotary  support  called 
a  horn,  which  holds  it  up  to  the  needle.  A  spool  containing  thread  coated 
with  shoemakers'  wax  is  carried  by  the  horn,  and  the  thread,  with  its  wax 
kept  soft  by  a  lamp,  runs  up  the  inside  of  the  horn  to  the  whirl.  The  latter 
is  a  small  ring  placed  at  the  upper  end  of  the  horn,  and  through  which 
there  is  an  opening  for  the  passage  of  the  needle.  The  needle  has  a  barb, 
or  hook,  and  as  it  descends  through  the  sole  the  whirl  lays  the  thread  in 


190 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


this  hook,  and  as  the  needle  rises  it  draws  the  thread  through  the  soles  and 
forms  a  chain  stitch  in  the  external  channel  of  the  outer  sole.  As  the  sew- 
ing proceeds,  the  horn  is  rotated  so  as  to  bring  every  part  of  the  margin  of 
the  sole  under  the  needle.  With  this  machine  a  single  operator  has  been 
able  to  sew  nine  hundred  pairs  of  shoes  in  a  day  of  ten  hours,  and  five  hun- 
dred to  six'hundred  pairs  is  only  an  average  workman's  output.  It  is  said 
that  up  to  1877  there  were  350,000,000  pairs  of  shoes  made  on  this  machine 

in  the  United  States,  and  probably 
an  equal  or  greater  number  in  Eu- 
rope. Shoes  made  on  this  machine 
were  strongly  made  and  comforta- 
ble, but  they  could  not  be  resoled  by 
a  shoemaker,  except  by  pegging  or 
nailing,  and  the  soles  were  further- 
more somewhat  stiff  and  lacking  in 
flexibility.  To  meet  these  difficulties, 
a  new  machine  known  as  the  "Good- 
year Welt  Machine,"  was  patented 
in  1871  and  1875,  and  brought  out  a 
little  later.  This  sewed  a  welt  to  an 
upper,  which  welt  in  a  subsequent 
operation  was  sewed  by  an  external 
row  of  stitches  to  the  sole.  This 
gave  much  greater  flexibility,  and 
the  further  advantage  of  enabling  a 
shoemaker  to  half  sole  the  shoe  by 
the  old  method  of  hand  sewing. 
This  advanced  the  art  of  shoemak- 
ing  in  the  finer  varieties  of  shoes, 
and  to-day  nearly  all  men's  fine 
shoes  are  made  in  this  way.  The  introduction  of  the  sewing  machine  into 
the  shoe  industry  made  a  new  era  in  foot  wear,  and  it  is  said  that  no  na- 
tion on  earth  is  so  well  and  cheaply  shod  as  the  people  of  the  United  States. 
A  buttonhole  does  not-  strike  the  average  person  as  a  thing  of  any  im- 
portance whatever.  The  needlewoman,  however,  who  has  to  patiently 
stitch  around  and  form  the  buttonholes,  knows  differently,  and  when  this 
needlewoman,  working  in  the  great  shirt  factories  and  shoe  factories,  is 
confronted  with  the  many  millions  of  buttonholes  in  collars,  cuffs,  shirts 
and  shoes,  the  great  amount  of  this  painstaking  and  nerve  destroying  labor 
becomes  appalling.  For  cheapening  the  cost  of  buttonholes,  and  reducing 


FIG.   147. — MCKAY  SHOE  SEWING  MACHINE. 


THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY. 


191 


the  hand  labor,  various  buttonhole  machines  and  attachments  to  sewing 
machines  have  been  devised.  Patents  Xos.  36,616  and  36,617,  to  Hum- 
phrey, Oct.  7,  1862,  covered  one  of  the  earliest  forms,  but  the  Reece  button- 
hole machine,  which  is  specially  devised  for  the  work,  is  one  of  the  most 
modern  and  successful.  It  was  patented  April  26,  1881,  Sept.  21,  1886, 
and  Aug.  20,  1895.  These  machines  mark  an  important  departure,  which 
consists  in  working  the  buttonhole  by  moving  the  stitch  forming  mechan- 
ism about  the  buttonhole,  instead  of  moving  the  fabric.  An  illustration  of 
the  machine  is  given  in  Fig.  148.  Upon  this  machine  10,010  button  holes 


FIG.     148. REECE     BUTTONHOLE     MACHINE. 

have  been  made  in  nine  hours  and  fifty  minutes.  The  machine  first  cuts 
the  buttonhole,  then  transfers  it  to  the  stitching  devices,  which  stitch  and 
bar  the  buttonhole,  finishing  it  entirely  in  an  automatic  manner.  The  sav- 
ing involved  to  the  manufacturer  by  this  machine  over  the  hand  method  is 
several  hundred  per  cent.,  but  the  relief  to  the  needlewoman  is  of  far 
greater  consequence. 

Many  striking  applications  of  the  sewing  machine  to  various  kinds  of 
work  have  been  made.    A  recent  one  is  the  automatic  power  carpet  sewing 


192  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

machine,  made  and  sold  by  the  Singer  Manufacturing  Company.  It  was 
patented  by  E.  B.  Allen  in  1894.  This  machine  in  general  appearance  re- 
sembles a  miniature  elevated  railroad,  it  consists  of  an  elevated  track 
about  thirty-six  feet  long,  sustained  every  three  or  four  feet  upon  stand- 
ards, and  having  clamping  jaws,  which  hold  together  the  upper  edges  of 
the  two  lengths  of  carpet  to  be  sewed  together.  A  compact  little  stitching 
'apparatus,  not  larger  than  a  tea-pot,  is  actuated  by  an  endless  belt  from  an 
electric  motor  at  one  end.  The  little  machine  runs  along  and  stitches  to- 
gether the  upper  edges  of  the  suspended  carpet  lengths,  and  as  it  crawls 
along  at  its  work,  it  strikingly  reminds  one  of  the  movements  of  a  squirrel 
along  the  top  of  a  rail  fence.  This  machine  will  sew  five  yards  of  seam 
every  minute,  fastening  together  evenly  and  strongly  ten  yards  of  carpet, 
and  entirely  dispensing  with  all  hand  labor  in  this  roughest  and  most  try- 
ing of  all  fabrics. 

Probably  no  organized  piece  of  machinery  has  ever  been  so  systemati- 
cally exploited,  so  thoroughly  advertised,  so  persistently  canvassed,  and 
so  extensively  sold  as  the  sewing  machine.  With  their  main  central  offices, 
their  branch  offices,  sub-agencies  and  traveling  canvassers  in  wagons,  every 
city,  village,  hamlet,  and  farmhouse  has  been  actively  besieged,  and  with 
the  enticing  system  of  payment  by  instalments  there  is  scarcely  a  home  too 
humble  to  be  without  its  sewing  machine.  The  retail  price  of  sewing  ma- 
chines bears  no  proper  relation  to  their  cost,  but  this  price  to  the  consumer 
results  from  the  liberal  commissions  to  agents,  and  the  expensive  methods 
of  canvassing.  In  the  early  clays  of  the  sewing  machine  its  sales  were 
chiefly  for  family  use,  but  this  is  now  no  longer  the  case.  While  almost 
every  family  owns  a  sewing  machine,  it  is  only  brought  into  requisition 
for  finer  and  special  varieties  of  work,  since  nearly  all  the  clothing  of  men, 
women  and  children  can  now  be  purchased  ready  made,  at  a  price  much 
less  than  the  cost  of  the  material  and  the  labor  of  making  it  up.  A  man 
to-day  buys  a  ready-made  shirt  for  fifty  cents,  which  fifty  years  ago  would 
have  cost  him  $2.  This  has  largely  transferred  the  sphere  of  action  of  the 
sewing  machine  from  the  family  to  the  factory.  Great  factories  now  make 
ready-made  clothing  for  men,  women  and  children,  shirts,  collars  and 
cuffs,  shoes,  hats,  caps,  awnings,  tents,  sails,  bags,  flags,  banners,  corsets, 
gloves,  pocketbooks,  harness,  saddlery,  rubber  goods,  etc.,  and  all  these 
industries  are  founded  upon  the  sewing  machine,  which  may  be  seen  in 
long  rows  beside  the  factory  walls,  busily  supplying  the  demand  of  the 
world.  With  this  transition  in  the  sewing  machine  foot  treadles  are  no 
longer  relied  on,  but  the  machines  are  run  by  power  from  countershafts. 
This,  in  turn,  has  opened  up  possibilities  of  much  higher  speed  and  greater 


IN    THE    XL\ET1L1L\'TH    CEXTURY.  193 

efficiency  in  the  machine.  Inventors  have  found,  however,  that  high  speed 
is  handicapped  with  certain  limitations.  Beyond  a  certain  speed  the  needle 
gets  hot  from  friction,  which  burns  off  the  thread  and  draws  the  temper. 
Cams  and  springs,  moreover,  are  not  positive  enough  in  action,  as  the  re- 
silience of  the  spring  does  not  act  quickly  enough,  and  so  more  positive 
gearings,  such  as  eccentrics  and  cranks,  must  be  employed.  Despite  these 
difficulties,  howrever,  the  modern  factory  machine  has  raised  the  speed  of 
the  old-time  sewing  machine  from  a  few  hundred  stitches  a  minute  to 
three  and  four  thousand  stitches  a  minute. 

The  United  States  is  the  home  of  the  sewing  machine,  and  New  York 
City  is  the  center  of  the  industry,  probably  90  per  cent,  of  the  sewing  ma- 
chine trade  being  managed  and  handled  there.  German  manufacturers  are 
making  great  efforts  to  compete  in  this  field,  but  American  machines  are 
generally  regar'ded  as  the  best  in  the  world. 

Among  those  prominently  interested  in  the  machine  in  its  early  days 
were  Orlando  B.  Potter  and  the  law  firm  of  Jordan  &  Clarke.  The  latter 
were  attorneys  representing  some  of  the  prominent  inventors  in  litigation, 
and  in  this  way  Mr.  Edward  Clarke  became  interested  in  the  business,  and 
it  was  he  who  in  1856  instituted  the  system  of  selling  on  the  instalment 
plan.  For  some  years  before  his  death  Mr.  Clarke  was  the  president  of  the 
Singer  Company. 

Recent  statistics  in  relation  to  the  sewing  machine  industry  are  difficult 
to  obtain,  partly  by  reason  of  the  great  extent  and  ramifications  of  the 
business,  and  partly  by  reason  of  the  unwillingness  of  the  larger  companies 
to  give  out  data  for  publication.  At  the  Patent  Centennial  in  Washington, 
in  1891,  Ex-Commissioner  of  Patents  Butterworth  made  the  statement 
that  "Caesar  conquered  Gaul  with  a  force  numerically  less  than  was  em- 
ployed in  inventing  and  perfecting  the  parts  of  the  sewing  machine."  The 
great  Singer  Company,  with  headquarters  at  New  York,  operates  not 
only  a  factory  at  Elizabethport,  N.  J.,  employing  5,000  men,  but  also  other 
factories  in  Europe  and  Canada,  the  one  at  Kilbowie,  Scotland,  employing 
6,000  men.  Of  the  total  of  13,500,000  machines  made  by  this  company 
from  1853  to  the  end  of  1896,  nearly  6,000,000  have  been  made  in  factories 
located  abroad,  but  directly  controlled  and  managed  by  the  New  York 
office.  It  is  stated  that  the  present  output  of  the  American  factory  of  the 
Singer  Company  amounts  to  over  11,000  weekly,  or  more  than  half  a 
million  annually.  Although  so  many  sewing  machines  are  made  abroad, 
the  exports  from  the  United  States  for  1899  amounted  to  $3,264,344. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  Howe  sewing  machine  it  was  denounced  as  a 
menace  to  the  occupations  of  the  thousands  of  men  and  women  who 


194  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

worked  in  the  clothing  shops,  and  the  struggles  of  the  inventor  against 
this  opposition  and  discouragement  form  an  interesting  page  of  history. 
But  it  had  come  to  stay  and  to  grow.  Some  7,000  United  States  patents 
attest  the  interest  and  ingenuity  in  this  field,  in  the  neighborhood  of 
100,000  persons  make  a  living  from  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  the  ma- 
chine, millions  find  profitable  employment  in  its  use,  and  from  700,000  to 
800,000  machines  are  annually  manufactured  in  the  United  States.  The 
output  of  all  countries  is  estimated  to  be  from  1,200,000  to  1,300,000  an- 
nually. 

The  sewing  machine  has  for  its  objective  result  only  the  simple  and  in- 
significant function  of  fastening  one  piece  of  fabric  to  another,  but  its  in- 
fluence upon  civilization  in  ministering  to  the  wants  of  the  race  has  been  so 
great  as  to  cause  it  to  be  numbered  with  the  epoch-making  inventions  of 
the  age.  It  has  created  new  industries.  It  has  given  useful  employment 
to  capital,  has  'extended  the  lists  of  the  wage  earner,  and  increased  his 
daily  pay.  It  has  clothed  the  naked,  fed  the  hungry,  and  warded  off  the 
ravages  of  cold  and  death ;  but,  best  of  all  its  tuneful  accompaniment  has 
lightened  the  heart  and  smoothed  the  pathway  of  life  for  Hood's  weary 
working  woman,  to  whose  tired  fingers  and  aching  eyes  it  has  brought  the 
balm  of  much-needed  rest. 


IN    THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY.  195 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE  REAPER. 

EARLY  ENGLISH  MACHINES — MACHINE  OF  PATRICK  BELL — THE  HUSSEY  REAPER— 
MCCORMICK'S  REAPER  AND  ITS  GREAT  SUCCESS — RIVALRY  BETWEEN  THE  Two 
AMERICAN  REAPERS — SELF  RAKERS— AUTOMATIC  BINDERS — COMBINED  STEAM 
REAPER  AND  THRESHING  MACHINE— GREAT  WHEAT  FIELDS  OF  THE  WEST — 
STATISTICS. 

IN  the  harvest  scenes  upon  the  tombs  of  ancient  Thebes  the  thirsty 
reaper  is  depicted,  with  curved  sickle  in  hand,  alternately  bending 
his  back  to  the  grain  and  refreshing  himself  at  the  skin  bottle.  For 
more  than  thirty  centuries  did  man  thus  continue  to  earn  his  bread 
by  the  sweat  of  his  brow.  Even  to  the  present  time  the  scythe,  with  its' 
cradle  of  wooden  fingers,  is  occasionally  met  with,  and  it  is  to  the  okler 
generation  a  familiar  suggestion  of  the  sweat,  toil,  bustle  and  excitement 
of  the  old  harvest  time.  But  all  this  has  been  changed  by  the  advent  of 
the  reaper,  and  ere  long  the  grain  cradle  will  hang  on  the  walls  of  the 
museum  as  an  ethnological  specimen  only. 

The  first  reaper  of  which  we  find  historical  evidence  is  that  described 
by  Pliny  in  the  first  century  of  the  Christian  Era  (A.  D.  70).  He  says: 
"The  mode  of  getting  in  the  harvest  varies  considerably.  In  the  vast  do- 
mains of  the  province  of  Gaul  a  large  hollow  frame,  armed  with  comb-like 
teeth,  and  supported  on  two  wheels,  is  driven  through  the  standing  grain, 
the  beasts  being  yoked  behind  it  (in  contrarium  juncto),  the  result  being 
that  the  ears  are  torn  off  and  fall  within  the  frame." 

This  crude  machine  has  in  late  years  been  many  times  re-invented,  and 
it  finds  a  special  application  to-day  for  the  gathering  of  clover  seeds,  and  is 
called  a  "header." 

The  first  attempt  of  modern  times  to  devise  a  reaper  was  the  English 
machine  of  Pitt,  in  1786,  which  followed  the  principle  of  the  old  Gallic  im- 
plement, in  that  it  stripped  the  heads  from  the  standing  grain.  The  Pitt 
machine,  however,  had  a  revolving  cylinder  on  which  were  rows  of  comb 
teeth,  which  tore  off  the  heads  of  grain  and  discharged  them  into  a  recep- 
tacle. In  1799  Boyce,  of  England,  invented  the  vertical  shaft,  with  hori- 
zontally rotating  cutters.  In  1800  Mears  devised  a  machine  employing 


196 


THE   PROGRESS   OF   INVENTION 


shears.  In  1806  Gladstone  devised  a  front-draft,  side-cut  machine,  in 
which  a  curved  segment-bar  with  fingers  gathered  the  grain  and  held  it 
while  a  horizontally  revolving  knife  cut  the  same.  In  1811  Gumming  in- 
troduced the  reel,  and  in  1814  Dobbs  described  a  wheelbarrow  arrangement 
of  reaper  in  which  he  used  the  divider.  In  1822  the  important  improve- 
ment of  the  reciprocating  knife  bar  was  made  by  Ogle,  which  became  a 
characteristic  feature  of  all  subsequent  successful  reapers.  It  was  drawn 

by  horses  in  front. 
The  cutter  bar  pro- 
jected at  the  side.  It 
had  a  reel  to  gather 
the  grain  to  the  cutter, 
and  the  grain  platform 

S  FU  MB  bfl  111  was  tiited  to  dr°p the 

gavel.  In  1826  Rev. 
Patrick  Bell,  of  Scot- 
land, devised  a  reaper 
that  had  a  movable 
vibrating  cutter  work- 
ing like  a  series  of 
shears,  a  reel,  and  a 
traveling  apron, 
which  carried  off  the 
grain  to  one  side.  This 
machine  was  pushed 
from  behind,  and, 
with  a  swath  of  five 
feet,  cut  an  acre  in  an 
hour.  It  was,  how- 
ever, for  some  reason 
laid  aside  till  1851, 
when  it  was  reor- 
ganized and  put  in 
service  at  the  World's  Fair  in  London  in  competition  with  the 
American  machines.  All  the  earlier  experiments  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  reaper  were  made  in  England.  Grain  raising  was  in  its  in- 
fancy in  the  United  States,  and  near  the  end  of  the  Eighteenth  Century  the 
Royal  Agricultural  Society  of  England  had  stimulated  its  own  inventors  by 
offering  a  prize  for  the  production  of  a  successful  reaper,  and  continued 
thus  to  offer  it  for  many  years.  There  is  no  evidence,  however,  that  the 


FIG.    149. — PATENT     OFFICE     DRAWING,     HUSSEY's     REAPER, 
DECEMBER    31,    1833. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


197 


preceding  machines  attained  any  practical  results,  and  it  remained  for  the 
fertility  of  American  genius  to  invent  a  practical  reaper  which  satisfac- 
torily performed  its  work,  and  continued  to  do  so.  Quite  a  number  of 
patents  for  reapers  were  granted  to  American  inventors  in  the  early  part 
of  the  century,  among  which  may  be  mentioned  that  to  Manning,  of  Plain- 
field,  N.  J.,  May  3,  1831,  which  embodied  finger  bars  to  hold  the  grain  and 
a  reciprocating  cutter  bar  with  spear-shaped  blades. 

Cyrus  H.  McCormick,  of  Virginia,  and  Obed  Hussey,  of  Maryland, 
were  the  men  who  brought  the  reaper  to  a  condition  of  practical  utility. 
The  commercial  development  of  their  machines  was  practically  contem- 
poraneous, and  their  respective  claims  for  superiority  had  about  an  equal 


FIG.    ISO. — PATENT  OFFICE  DRAWING,   MCCORMICK's  REAPER,  JUNE  21,   1834. 


number  of  supporters  among  the  farmers  of  that  day.  Hussey,  originally 
of  Cincinnati,  but  afterwards  of  Maryland,  was  the  first  to  obtain  a  patent, 
which  was  granted  December  31,  1833.  An  illustration  of  the  patent 
drawing  is  given  in  Fig.  149.  It  embodied  a  reciprocating  saw  tooth  cut- 
ter /  sliding  within  double  guard  fingers  e.  It  had  a  front  draft,  side-cut, 
and  a  platform.  The  cutter  was  driven  by  a  pitman  from  a  crank  shaft 
operated  through  gear  wheels  from  the  main  drive  wheels.  His  specifi- 
cation provided  for  the  locking  or  unlocking  of  the  drive  wheels ;  also  for 
the  hinging  of  the  platform,  and  states  that  the  operator  who  takes  off  the 
grain  may  ride'on  the  machine. 

On  June  21,  1834,  Cyrus  H.  McCormick,  of  Virginia,  obtained  a  pat- 
ent on  his  reaper.    In  Fig.  150  appears  an  illustration  of  his  patent  draw- 


198  THE   PROGRESS   OF   INVENTION 

ing.  This  had  two  features  which  were  not  found  in  the  Hussey  patent, 
viz.,  a  reel  on  a  horizontal  axis  above  the  cutter,  and  a  divider  L,  at  the 
outer  end  of  the  cutter,  which  divider  projected  in  front  of  the  cutter,  and 
separated  in  advance  the  grain  which  was  to  be  cut  from  that  which  was 
to  be  left  standing.  McCormick's  machine  had  two  cutters  or  knives,  re- 
ciprocated by  cranks  in  opposite  directions  to  each  other.  This  feature 
he  afterward  abandoned,  adopting  the  single  knife,  described  by  him  as 
an  alternative.  This  machine  was  to  be  pushed  ahead  of  the  team,  which 
was  hitched  to  the  bar  C  of  the  tongue  B  in  the  rear,  but  provision  was 
made  for  a  front  draft  by  a  pair  of  shafts  in  front,  shown  in  dotted  lines. 
The  curved  dotted  line  beside  the  shafts  indicated  a  bowed  guard  to  press 
the  standing  grain  away  from  the  horse.  The  divider  L  had  a  cloth 
screen  extending  to  the  rear  of  the  platform. 

Neither  Hussey  nor  McCormick  appears  at  that  time  to  have  been 
cognizant  of  the  prior  state  of  the  art,  and  as  the  patent  law  of  1836  had 
not  yet  been  enacted,  there  was  little  or  no  examination  as  to  novelty,  and 
no  interference  proceedings  as  to  priority  of  invention,  and  consequently 
their  respective  claims  were  drawn  to  much  that  was  old,  and  probably 
much  that  would  have  been  in  conflict  with  each  other  under  the  present 
practice  of  the  Patent  Office.  In  the  Scientific  American,  of  December 
1 6  and  23,  1854,  in  a  most  interesting  series  of  articles  on  the  reaper,  the 
Hussey  machine  is  fully  described.  The  first  public  trial  was  on  July  2, 
1833,  before  the  Hamilton  County  Agricultural  Society,  near  Carthage, 
O.,  and  its  success  was  attested  by  nine  witnesses.  Great  stress  was  laid 
by  Mr.  Hussey  on  the  double  finger  bar,  i.  e.,  a  finger  bar  having  one 
member  above  and  the  other  below  the  knife.  The  Scientific  American 
said  the  machine  was  a  success  from  the  first ;  that  "in  1834  the  machine 
was  introduced  into  Illinois  and  New  York,  and  in  1837  into  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  in  1838  Mr.  Hussey  moved  from  Ohio  to  Baltimore,  Md.,  and 
continued  to  manufacture  his  reapers  there  up  to  the  present  time." 

In  1836  Hussey  was  invited  by  the  Maryland  Agricultural  Society  for 
the  Eastern  Shore  to  exhibit  his  machine  before  them.  On  July  i  he  did 
so,  and  made  practical  demonstration  of  its  working  to  the  society  at  Ox- 
ford, Talbot  County,  and  again  on  July  12  at  Easton.  On  the  following 
Saturday  it  was  shown  at  Trappe,  and  it  was  afterwards  used  on  the  farm 
of  Mr.  Tench  Tilghman,  where  180  acres  of  wheat,  oats  and  barley  were 
cut  with  it.  The  report  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  society  was  an 
unqualified  commendation  of  the  practicability,  efficiency  and  value  of  the 
machine,  and  a  handsome  pair  of  silver  cups  was  awarded  to  the  inventor. 
The  report  was  signed  by  the  following  well-known  residents  of  the  East- 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH   CENTURY. 


199 


ern  Shore:  Robert  H.  Goldsborough,  Samuel  Stevens,  Samuel  T.  Ken- 
nard,  Robert  Banning,  Samuel  Hambleton,  Sr.,  Nichol  Goldsborough, 
Ed.  N.  Hambleton,  James  L.  Chamberlain,  Martin  Goldsborough,  Ho-' 
ratio  L.  Edmonson,  and  Tench  Tilghman. 

Hussey  made  and  sold  his  machine  for  years.  In  the  American 
Farmer,  of  October,  1847,  an  agricultural  journal  printed  at  Baltimore, 
the  advertisement  of  his  machine  appears  with  full  price  lists  of  the  differ- 
ent sizes  of  machines,  and  also  of  an  improvement  in  the  manner  of  dis- 
posing of  the  grain,  which  was  the  invention  of  Mr.  Tench  Tilghman, 
and  was  adopted  by  Hussey  on  his  reaper. 

While  Hussey  was  at  work  at  his  reaper,  McCormick  also  was  busily 
engaged  with  his,  and  he  took  his  second  patent  January  31,  1845,  No. 
3,895.  This  related  to  the  cutter  bar,  the  divider,  and  reel  post.  McCor- 


FIG.    151. — THE   MCCORMICK  REAPER  OF   1847. 

mick's  next  patent  was  dated  October  23,  1847,  No.  5,335,  and  in  this  the 
raker's  seat  was  to  be  mounted  on  the  platform  as  shown  in  Fig.  151. 
McCormick's  last  named  patent  also  covered  the  arrangement  of  the  gear- 
ing and  crank  in  front  of  the  drive  wheel,  so  as  to  balance  the  weight  of 
the  raker.  In  the  same  year  Hussey  took  out  his  patent  of  August  7, 
1847,  No.  5,227,  for  the  open  top  and  slotted  finger  guard,  which  is  an 
important  part  of  all  successful  cutter  bars. 

The  rivalry  between  the  McCormick  and  Hussey  machines  continued 
for  many  years,  and  they  were  frequently  in  competition  both  in  America 
and  England.  The  stimulus  of  this  rivalry  doubtless  had  much  to  do  with 
the  development  and  success  of  the  reaper.  Both  Hussey  and  McCormick 


200  THE   PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 

asked  for  extensions  of  their  patents,  but  they  failed  to  get  them.  In  1848, 
pending  McCormick's  extension  proceedings,  facts  were  introduced  by  him 
to  show  that  his  invention  of  the  reaper  antedated  Hussey's,  and  that  he  had 
made  his  machine  as  early  as  1831,  and  had  used  it  then  on  the  farm  of 
Mr.  John  Steele,  in  Virginia.  This  claim  to  priority  was  supported  by  the 
publication  of  a  description  of  the  machine,  and  certificate  of  its  use,  in 
the  Union,  a  newspaper  published  at  Lexington,  Va.,  September  28, 
1833,  and  although  no  adjudication  was  ever  made  on  this  issue,  this  fact, 
together  with  Mr.  McCormick's  success  in  the  contest  in  England  in  1851, 
and  his  subsequent  persistence  and  activity  in  improving,  developing  and 
introducing  the  reaper,  has  so  distinguished  him  in  this  connection,  that 


FIG.    152. — THE   MANN    HARVESTER  OF   1849. 

to-day  his  name  is  as  commonly  associated  with  the  reaper  as  is  Fulton's 
with  the  steamboat,  or  that  of  Morse  with  the  telegraph.  To  Mr.  McCor- 
mick  more  than  to  anybody  else  the  perfection  of  the  reaper  is  due.  In  the 
spring  of  1851  McCormick  placed  his  reaper  on  exhibition  at  the  World's 
Fair  in  London.  Hussey  also  had  his  machine  there,  and  they  were  the 
only  ones  represented.  The  machines  were  tested  in  the  field,  and  as- 
tonished all  who  saw  them  operate.  The  Grand  Council  medal,  which  was 
one  of  four  special  medals  awarded  for  marked  epochs  in  progress,  was 
given  to  McCormick,  and  the  judges  referred  to  the  McCormick  machine 
as  being  worth  to  the  people  of  England  "the  whole  cost  of  the  exposi- 
tion." It  is  only  fair  to  state  that  Hussey  was  not  present  to  direct  the 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


201 


trial  of  his  machine,  and  that  in  a  subsequent  trial  another  jury  decided  in 
his  favor,  and  His  Royal  Highness,  Prince  Albert,  ordered  two  of  Hus- 
sey's  machines  in  1851 — one  for  Windsor  and  the  other  for  the  Isle  of 
Wight.  The  Duke  of  Marlborough  also  gave  his  personal  testimonial  to 
Mr.  Hussey  as  to  the  excellence  of  his  machine.  In  1855,  at  a  competitive 
trial  of  reapers  near  Paris,  three  machines  were  entered.  The  American 
machine  cut  an  acre  of  oats  in  twenty-two  minutes,  the  English  machine 
in  sixty-six  minutes,  and  the  Algerian  in  seventy-two.  In  1863,  at  the 
great  International  Exposition  at  Hamburg,  the  McCormick  reaper  again 
took  the  grand  prize.  While  in  Paris  in  1878  Mr.  McCormick  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  French  Academy  of  Sciences  as  "having  done 
more  for  the  cause  of  agriculture  than  any  living  man."  Mr.  McCormick 


FIG.    153. — THE   MARSH    HARVESTER  OF   1858. 


continued  to  the  end  of  his  days,  in  1884,  to  devote  his  entire  energies  to 
the  development  of  the  reaper,  and  well  deserved  the  princely  fortune 
that  resulted  from  his  indefatigable  labors,  a  good  portion  of  which  for- 
tune he  spent  during  his  life  in  the  cause  of  education  and  acts  of  philan-- 
thropy.  The  inventory  of  his  estate,  filed  in  the  Probate  Court  of  Cook 
County,  111.,  showed  $10,000,000  as  the  reward  of  his  genius  and  industry, 
and  is  an  object  lesson  of  the  reward  of  merit  for  the  ambitious  youth  of 
the  Twentieth  Century. 

In  the  development  of  the  reaper  one  of  the  first  deficiencies  to  be  sup- 
plied was  automatic  mechanism  for  taking  the  grain  from  the  platform. 


202  THE   PROGRESS   OF   INVENTION 

In  November,  1848,  F.  S.  Pease  took  out  patent  No. -5,925  for  a  rake 
whose  teeth  projected  up  through  slots  in  the  platform,  and  moved  back 
and  forth  to  deposit  the  grain  upon  the  ground.  On  June  19,  1849,  J-  J- 
&  H.  F.  Mann  took  out  patent  No.  6,540  on  a  machine  employing  the  prin- 
ciple of  an  endless  band  for  carrying  the  cut  grain  to  the  side  of  the  ma- 
chine, where  it  passed  up  an  inclined  plane  and  accumulated  in  a  re- 
ceptacle to  form  a  gavel,  which  was  dumped  upon  the  ground.  This 
machine  is  shown  in  Fig.  152.  On  July  8,  1851,  W.  H.  Seymour  took  out 
patent  No.  8,212  for  a  self-raker,  and  this  machine  marks  the  beginning 
of  the  era  of  self-raking  reapers,  which  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  in  vari- 
ous modifications  continued  to  be  used,  until  displaced  by  subsequent  im- 
provements in  binding  devices.  In  1853  the  Sylla  and  Adams  machine  was 

brought  out,  the  pat- 
ents for  which  were 
bought  by  the  Ault- 
mans,  and  the  Ault- 
man  and  Miller,  or 
"Buckeye"  harves- 
ter, was  manufac- 
t  u  r  e  d  thereunder. 
The  general  form  of 
the  modern  harvester 
has  followed  along 

FIG.    IS4.-THE  CHAMPION   REAPER.  thC   HneS   °f   the   Matltl 

machine      of       1849. 

The  development  began  by  replacing  the  gavel  receptacle  on  the 
right  of  that  machine  (Fig.  152)  with  a  platform  on  which 
stood  men  who  rode  on  the  machine  as  they  bound  the  grain. 
An  early  and  important  example  of  a  harvester  of  this  class  is 
given  in  the  Marsh  machine,  patented  August  15,  1858,  No.  21,207,  and 
shown  in  Fig.  153.  To  this  type  of  machine  the  self-binding  devices  were 
subsequently  applied,  but  before  they  materialized  many  other  improve- 
ments in  self-rakers  were  made  and  applied,  among  which  may  be  men- 
tioned the  combined  rake  and  reel  of  Owen  Dorsey,  of  Maryland 
(1856),  sweeping  horizontally  across  the  quadrantal  platform;  the 
McClintock  Young  revolving  reel,  carrying  a  rake ;  the  Henderson 
rake  (1860)  used  on  the  Wood  machine;  the  Seiberling  dropper  (1861). 
which  consisted  of  a  slotted  platform  which  moved  to  discharge  the  gavel  : 
and  the  various  improvements  covered  by  Whiteley's  patents,  which  were 
embodied  in  the  Champion  reaper,  of  Springfield,  O.,  and  which  is  shown 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  203 

in  Fig.  154.  This  machine  had  a  combined  rake  and  reel  of  the  Dorsey 
type,  whose  arms  moved  over  a  circular  inclined  and  stationary  cam,  and 
whose  rakes  had  a  horizontal  sweep  over  the  platform,  and  a  vertical  re- 
turn over  the  wheels. 

The  next  step,  and,  perhaps  the  most  important  one,  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  reaper,  was  in  providing  automatic  devices  for  binding  the 
gavels  of  grain  into  sheaves.  John  E.  Heath,  of  Ohio,  in  patent  No.  7,520, 
of  July  22,  1850,  was  the  pioneer,  and  he  used  cord.  Watson,  Renwick  & 
"VYatson,  in  patent  No.  8,083,  °f  May  13,  1851,  and  C.  A.  McPhitridge,  in 
patent  No.  16,097,  °f  November  18,  1856,  quickly  followed  in  the  attempt 
to  provide  such  a  device,  the  former  using  cord  and  the  latter  wire.  But 
the  problem  was  not  an  easy  one  to  solve.  On  November  16,  1858,  W. 


FIG.    155. — THE  LOCKE   WIRE  BINDER  OF    1873. 

Grey  took  out  patent  No.  22,074,  for  starting  the  binding  mechanism  by 
the  weight  of  the  bundle.  Probably  the  first  to  complete  a  binding  attach- 
ment that  was  partly  automatic,  and  to  attach  it  to  a  reaping  machine, 
were  H.  M.  &  W.  W.  Burson,  of  Illinois.  On  June  26,  1860,  and  October 
4,  1864,  W.  W.  Burson  patented  a  cord  binder,  and  in  1863  one  thousand 
machines  were  built.  These  machines,  however,  used  wire,  and  being  as- 
sisted in  their  operations  by  hand  labor,  were  not  truly  automatic.  On 
February  16,  1864,  Jacob  Behel,  of  Illinois,  obtained  a  patent,  No.  41,661, 
for  a  very  important  invention  in  binders.  He  showed  and  claimed  for 
the  first  time  the  knotting  bill,-  which  loops  and  forms  the  knot,  and  the 
turning  cord  holder  for  retaining  the  end  of  the  cord.  On  May  31,  1870, 
George  H.  Spaulding  took  out  patent  No.  103,673  for  a  binder  which 


204 


THE   PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 


automatically  regulated  the  bundles  to  a  uniform  size.  Sylvanus  D. 
Locke,  of  Wisconsin,  was  the  next  inventor  who  undertook  to  solve  the 
problem.  He  took  out  patents  No.  121,290,  November  28,  1871,  and  No. 
149,233,  March  31,  1874,  and  many  others.  In  1873  he  associated  him- 
self with  Walter  A.  Wood,  and  they  built  and  sold  probably  the  first  auto- 
matic self-binding  harvester  that  was  ever  put  upon  the  market.  The 
Locke  wire  binder  of  1873  is  shown  in  Fig.  155.  The  use  of  wire,  how- 
ever, for  binding  grain,  involved  certain  objections  in  that  it 
required  a  special  cutting  tool  for  cutting  the  sheaves  at  the 
thresher,  and  it  was  not  easy  to  remove  the  wire,  and  parts 
of  it  were  likely  to  go  through  the  thresher.  Inventors  accordingly  con- 
centrated their  attention  on  the  use  of  twine  or  cord.  Marquis  L.  Gor- 
ham,  of  Illinois,  built  a  successful  twine  binder,  and  had  it  at  work  in  the 
harvest  field  in  1874.  This  machine,  covered  by  patent  No.  159,506,  Feb- 


FIG.    156. — MODERN  AUTOMATIC  SELF  BINDING  REAPER. 

ruary  9,  1875,  not  only  bound  by  cord,  but  produced  bundles  of  the  same 
size.  The  grain  in  this  machine  is  delivered  by  the  elevator  of  the  har- 
vester upon  a  platform,  where  it  is  seized  by  packers  and  carried  forward 
into  a  second  chamber,  where  it  is  compacted  by  the  packers  against  a 
yielding  trip,  so  that  when  sufficient  grain  is  accumulated,  the  trip  will 
yield  and  start  the  binding  mechanism  into  operation.  The  ball  of  cord 
carried  on  the  machine  has  one  end  threaded  through  the  needle  and 
fastened  in  a  holder.  The  grain  is  forced  against  the  cord  by  the  packers, 
and  when  the  binder  starts  the  needle  encircles  the  gavel,  carrying  the 
cord  to  a  knotting  bill,  and  the  end  is  again  seized  by  the  rotating  holder, 
the  loop  formed,  the  ends  of  the  band  severed,  and  the  bound  bundle  is 
discharged  from  the  machine.  A  gate,  which  has  in  the  meantime  shut  off 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  205 

the  flow  of  grain,  is  now  drawn  back,  and  the  operation  is  repeated.  On 
February  18,  1879,  John  F.  Appleby  took  out  a  patent,  No.  212,420,  for 
an  improvement  on  the  Gorham  binder.  In  Fig.  156  is  shown  a  modern 
automatic  self-binding  reaper  which  embodies  the  fundamental  principles 
of  McCormick  and  Hussey,  the  inclined  elevator  and  platform  shown  by 
Marsh,  and  the  automatic  binding  devices  of.  Behel,  Gorham  and 
Appleby. 

This  machine,  under  favorable  conditions,  with  one  driver,  cuts 
twenty  acres  of  wheat  in  a  day,  binds  it,  and  carries  the  bound  bundles 
into  windrows,  and  with  one  shocker,  performs  the  work  of  twenty  men, 
and  does  it  better,  the  saving  in  the  waste  of  grain  over  hand  labor  being 
sufficient  to  pay  for  the  twine  used  in  binding.  It  is  said  that  the  self- 
binding  reaper  has  reduced  the  cost  of  harvesting  grain  to  less  than  half 
a  cent  a  bushel. 

It  is  estimated  that  more  than  180,000  machines  of  the  self-binding 
type  are  now  produced  yearly,  the  manufacturers  in  Chicago  alone  turn- 
ing out  more  than  three-fourths  of  this  number.  It  is  not  possible  to  do 
justice  to  all  the  worthy  workers  in  this  great  industry.  Nearly  10,000 
patents  have  been  granted  on  reaping  and  mowing  machines,  and  the  con- 
spicuous names  of  Whiteley,  Wood,  Atkins,  Manny,  Yost,  and  Ketchum, 
in  addition  to  those  already  mentioned,  are  only  a  small  part  of  the  great 
army  of  inventors  who  have  contributed  to  the  development  and  perfec- 
tion of  the  reaper. 

In  1840  it  is  said  there  were  but  three  reapers  made.  To-day  the 
total  number  of  self-binding  harvesters,  reapers  and  mowers  in  use  is  es- 
timated to  be  two  millions.  The  growth  of  this  industry  in  the  four 
earlier  decades  is  as  follows  (the  relatively  small  increase  between  1860 
and  1870  being  accounted  for  by  the  Civil  War)  : 

1840.      1850.  1860.  1870.  1880. 

Machines  made ........      3  3,000          20,000          30,000  60,000 

Immediately  succeeding  this  period  the  automatic  cord  binder  was  put 
into  use,  and  within  five  years  the  increase  in  output  of  reapers  and 
mowers  was  very  great.  In  1885  more  than  100,000  self-binding  harvest- 
ers and  150,000  reapers  and  mowers  were  built  and  sold.  In  1890  two 
manufacturing  establishments  in  Chicago  made  more  than  200,000  ma- 
chines, half  of  which  were  self  binders  and  the  other  half  reapers  and 
mowers,  and  these  two  institutions  alone  employed  in  their  various 
branches  of  manufacturing  and  selling  10,000  employees.  In  1895  the  out- 


206 


THE   PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 


put  of  the  largest  of  these  manufacturing  establishments  was  60,000  self- 
binding  harvesters,  fitted  with  bundle  carriers  and  trucks,  61,000  mowers, 
10,000  corn  harvesters,  and  5,000  reapers,  making  136,000  machines  in  all. 
In  1898  the  output  of  this  one  factory  for  the  year  was  74,000  self-binding 


FIG.    157. — STEAM    HARVESTER   AND   THRESHER. 

The  wheat  is  headed,  threshed,  cleaned  and  sacked  by  this  machine  in  one  continuous  operation.— 
Cutter,  26  feet  wide;  Capacity,  75  acres  per  day. 

harvesters,  107,000  mowers,  9,000  corn  harvesters,  and  10,000  reapers, 
amounting  to  200,000  machines.  This  output,  together  with  75,000  horse 
rakes,  also  made,  averaged  a  complete  machine  for  every  forty  seconds  in 
the  year,  working  ten  hours  a  day.  The  estimated  annual  production  of  all 
factories  in  this  class  of  agricultural  implements  is  180,000  self-binding 


FIG.    158.— FIFTY    HORSE   POWER    STEAM    PLANTING   COMBINATION. 
Traction  engine  pulling  sixteen  10-inch  plows,  four  6-foot  harrows,  and  a  drill. 

harvesters,  250,000  mowing  machines,  18,000  corn  harvesters,  and  25,000 
reapers. 

There  were  exported  in  the  year  1880  about  800  self -binding  harvest- 
ers, 2,000  reapers,  and  1,000  mowers.  In  1890  this  was  increased  to  3,000 
self-binding  harvesters,  4,000  reapers,  and  2,000  mowers.  The  total  value 


IN   THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY.  207 

of  mowers^and^re^pe^s  exported  in  1890  was  $2,092,638.,  The  growth  sub- 
sequent to  fisc^is  well  attested  by  the  exports  for  1899,  which  for  mowers 
and. reapers  wa"s  $9,053,830,  or  more  than  four  times  what  it  was  in  1890. 
These  Exported  machines  harvest  the  crops  of  the  Argentine  Republic, 
Paraguay,  and  'Uruguay,  of  South  America;  carry  their  labor-saving 
values  to  Australia  and  New  Zealand ;  traverse  the  wheat  fields  along  the 
banks  of  the  Red  Sea  and  the  Volga,  and  are  used  throughout  all  the  con- 
tinent of  Europe.  i, 

With  the  self-binding  harvester  performing  the, work  of  twenty  men, 
cutting  and  binding  the  grain,  and  arranging  th^  bundles  In  windrows,  it 
would  seem  that  perfection  in  this  art  had  been  Reached,  but  the  tendency 
of  the  age  is  to  do  things  on  a  constantly  increasing  scale,  Jund  so  the  latest 
developments  in  harvesters  comprise  a  mammoth  machine  {Fig.  157)  pro- 
pelled across  the  grain  fields  by  steam,  and  which'  by  the.vsame  power  cuts 
a  swath  from  26  to  28  feet  wide,  threshes  it  at  onceiasjt  moves  along, 
blows  out  the  chaff,  and  puts  the  grain  in  bags  at  the  rate  <~>f  three  bags 
per  minute,  each  bag  containing  one  hundred  and  fifteen  potmds,  and  re- 
quiring two  expert  bag  sewers  to  take  the  grain  away  from  the  spout,  sew 
the  bags',  and  dump  them  on  the  ground.  Seventy-five  acres  a  day  is  its 
task,  r^  companion  piece  to  this  machine  is  illustrated  in  Fjg.  158,  which 
shows  the  same  power  utilized  for  planting.  A  powerful  steam  traction 
engine  of  fifty  horse  power  hauls  across  the  field  a  planting  combination  of 
sixteen  ten-inch  plows,  four  six-foot  harrows  and  a  seeding  drill  in  the 
rear.  Such  great  reaping  machines  only  find  useful  application  in  the 
enormous  wheat  fields  of  California  and  the  Pacific  Coast  States,  where 
the  dry  climate  permits  the  grain  to  ripen  and  dry  sufficiently  while  stand- 
ing in  the  field.  Moreover,  only  the  heads  of  the  grain  are  cut,  the  straw 
being  left  standing.  Some  conception  of  the  enormous  scale  upon  which 
grain.js  raised  in  the  Western  States  may  be  gotten  from  the  dimensions 
of  the  farms.  It  is  said  that  Dr.  Glenn's  wheat  farm  comprises  45,000 
acres ;  the  Dalrymples',  in  North  Dakota,  70,000 ;  and  Mr.  Mitchell,  in  the 
San  Joaquin  Valley,  jn  California,  has  90,000  acres.  The  Dalrymple 
farms  in  1893  had  54,000  acres  in  wheat,  and  employed  283  self-binding 
reapers  to  harvest  the  crop.  There  is  a  single  unbroken  wheat  field  on  the 
banks  of  the  San  Joaquin  River,  near  the  town  of  Clovis,  in  Madera 
County,  California,  which  comprises  25,000  acres,  or  nearly  forty  square 
miles  of  wheat — a  veritable  sea  of  waving  grain.  The  field  is  nearly 
square ;  each  side  is  a  little  over  six  miles  long.  Tf  its  shape  were  changed 
to  the  width  of  one  mile,  the  field  would  then  be  forty  miles  long.  It  has 
been  said  of  the  grain  fields  of  the  West,  that  the  men  and  teams  eat  break- 


THE   PROGRESS   OF   INVENTION 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  209 

fast  at  one  end  of  a  furrow,  take  dinner  in  the  middle  of  the  row,  and  at 
night  camp  and  sup  at  the  end  of  the  same  row.  With  a  field  of  such  pro- 
portions it  is  not  difficult  to  see  how  this  may  be  true.  The  cultivation  and 
garnering  of  crops  from  such  vast  areas  can  only  be  appreciated  by  com- 
parisons. If  it  were  one  man's  work  to  plow  such  a  field,  even  with  a 
double  gang  plow,  cutting  a  furrow  twenty-four  inches  wide,  he  would 
travel  105,600  miles,  which  would  be  equivalent  to  going  around  the  world 
four  times.  If  he  plowed  twenty  miles  a  day,  it  would  take  5,280  days. 
To  harrow  would  require  as  long,  and  to  plant  would  take  about  the  same 
time,  or  about  forty-three  years  altogether.  A  full  lifetime  would  be  re- 
quired to  plant  the  crop,  and  a  second  generation  would  be  required  to  reap 
it.  But  great  results  require  great  agencies,  and  so  great  labor-saving 
machines,  operated  by  armies  of  men,  are  brought  into  requisition,  and 
with  these  the  crop  is  both  planted  and  reaped.  A  long  procession  of  self- 
binding  harvesters,  following  close  one  behind  the  other,  makes  quick  work 
of  it,  and  before  the  weather  changes  this  great  field  is  mowed,  its  crop  gar- 
nered, and  bread  supplied  for  the  hungry  of  all  lands. 

The  exports  of  wheat  to  foreign  lands  in  1898  were  148,231,261  bush- 
els, worth  $145,684,659,  and  the  exports  of  wheat  flour  for  the  same  year 
were  15,349,943  barrels,  worth  $69,263,718.  The  total  yield  of  wheat  in 
the  United  States  for  1898  was  675,148,705  bushels. 

With  the  fertile  earth,  and  its  prolific  inventors,  the  United  States  has 
become  the  richest  country  in  the  world.  What  its  future  is  to  be  no  man 
may  say,  but  its  destiny  is  not  yet  fulfilled,  and  it  is  pregnant  with  potential 
possibilities. 


210  THE   PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 


CHAPTER    XVII. 
VULCANIZED  RUBBER. 

EARLY  USE  OF  CAOUTCHOUC  BY  THE  INDIANS— COLLECTION  OF  THE  GUM — EARLY  EX- 
PERIMENTS FAILURES — GOODYEAR'S  PERSISTENT  EXPERIMENTS — NATHANIEL  HAY- 
WARD'S  APPLICATION  OF  SULPHUR  TO  THE  GUM— GOODYEAR'S  PROCESS  OF  VULCAN- 
IZATION— INTRODUCTION  OF  His  PROCESS  INTO  EUROPE — TRIALS  AND  IMPRISON- 
MENT FOR  DEBT— RUBBER  SHOE  INDUSTRY — GREAT  EXTENT  AND  VARIETY  OF 
APPLICATIONS — STATISTICS. 

MOST  all  important  inventions  have  grown  into  existence  by  slow 
stages  of  development,  and  by  successive  contributions  from 
many  minds,  not  a  few  having  descended  by  gradual  processes 
of  evolution  from  preceding  centuries.  Vulcanized  rubber, 
however,  is  not  of  this  class.  It  belongs  exclusively  to  the  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury, and  owes  its  existence  to  the  tireless  energy  of  one  man.  The  value 
of  the  crude  gum  had  been  previously  speculated  upon,  and  for  years  at- 
tempts had  been  made  to  utilize  it,  but  not  until  Goodyear  invented  his 
process  of  vulcanizing  it  did  it  have  any  real  value.  This  process  was  an 
important,  distinct  and  unique  step,  entirely  the  work  of  Mr.  Goodyear, 
and  it  has  never  been  superseded  nor  improved  upon  to  any  extent. 
Charles  Goodyear  was  born  in  New  Haven,  December  29,  1800,  and  his 
life,  beginning  two  days  in  advance  of  the  Nineteenth  Century,  furnishes 
an  extraordinary  illustration  of  the  struggles  and  trials  of  the  inventor 
against  adverse  fortune,  and  is  a  pathetic  example  of  self  denial,  inde- 
fatigable labor,  and  unrequited  toil.  Of  feeble  health,  small  stature,  poor, 
and  frequently  in  prison  for  debt,  he  made  the  development  of  this  art  the 
paramount  object  of  his  life,  and  with  a  pious  faith  and  unfaltering  cour- 
age for  thirty  years  he  devoted  himself  to  this  work.  Money  he  cared 
nothing  for,  except  in  so  far  as  it  was  necessary  to  carry  on  his  work,  and 
he  died  July  I,  1860,  poor  in  this  world's  goods,  but  rich  in  the  conscious- 
ness of  the  great  benefit  conferred  by  his  invention  upon  the  human  race. 

India  rubber,  or  caoutchouc,  as  it  is  more  properly  called,  is  a  concen- 
trated gum  derived  from  the  evaporation  of  the  milky  juice  of  certain  trees 
found  in  South  America,  Mexico,  Central  America  and  the  East  Indies. 
The  South  American  variety  is  called  Jatropha  elastica,and  the  East  Indian 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


211 


variety  the  Ficus  elastica.  The  South  American  Indians  called  it  cahuchu. 
The  province  of  Para,  south  of  the  equator,  in  Brazil,  furnishes  the  largest 
part  and  best  quality  of  gum.  The  tree  from  which  the  gum  exudes  grows 
to  the  height  of  eighty,  and  sometimes  to  one  hundred  feet.  It  runs  up 
straight  for  forty  or  fifty  feet  without  a  branch.  Its'  top  is  spreading,  and 
is  ornamented  with  a  thick  and  glossy  foliage.  The  gum  is  collected  by 
chopping  through  the 
bark  with  a  hatchet 
and  placing  under 
each  series  of  cuts  a 
little  clay  cup  formed 
by  the  hands  of  the 
workman.  About  a 
gill  of  the  sap  accu- 
mulates in  each  cup  in 
the  course  of  a  day, 
and  it  is  then  trans- 
ferred to  receiving 
vessels  and  taken  to 
camp.  The  first  use 
of  the  gum  was  made 
by  the  South  Ameri- 
c  a  n  Indians,  who 
made  shoes,  bottles, 
playing  balls  and  va- 
rious other  articles 
from  it.  Their  meth- 
od for  making  a  shoe 
was  to  take  a  crude 
wooden  last,  which 
they  covered  with  clay 

to  prevent  the  adhesion  of  the  gum.  It  was  then  dipped  in  the  sap,  or  the  lat- 
ter was  poured  over  it,  which  gave  it  a  thin  coating.  It  was  then  held  over 
a  smoky  fire,  which  gave  it  a  dark  color  and  dried  the  gum.  When  one 
coating  became  sufficiently  hard  another  was  added,  and  smoked  in  turn, 
and  so  successive  coatings  were  applied  until  a  sufficient  thickness  was  ob- 
tained. When  the  work  was  completed  it  was  exposed  for  some  days  in 
the  sun,  and  while  still  soft  the  shoes  were  decorated  as  the  fancy  or  taste 
of  the  maker  suggested.  The  clay  forms  were  then  broken  out,  and  the 
shoe  stuffed  with  grass  to  keep  it  in  shape  for  use  or  sale.  In  1820  a  pair 


FIG.    l6o. — COLLECTING  THE  GUM. 


212  THE   PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 

of  these  clumsy  shoes  was  brought  to  Boston  and  exhibited  as  a  curiosity. 
They  were  covered  with  gilding,  and  resembled  the  shoe  of  a  Chinaman. 
Subsequently  considerable  numbers  of  these  shoes  were  brought  from 
South  America,  and  being  sold  at  a  large  price,  they  served  to  stimulate 
Yankee  ingenuity  into  devising  methods  of  making  them  from  the  raw 
material-,  which  being  brought  as  ballast  in  the  ships  from  Brazil,  could  be 
had  cheaply.  In  France  some  attention  had  been  given  to  the  material, 
and  the  rubber  bottles  of  the  Indians  had  been  cut  into  narrow  threads 
which  were  woven  into  strips  of  cloth  to  form  suspenders  and  garters.  In 
England  an  application  of  it  in  thin  solution  had  been  made  by  a  Mr.  Mac- 
intosh, who  spread  it  between  two  thicknesses  of  thin  cloth  to  form  Mac- 
intosh water-proof  coats.  The  first  practical  use  of  the  gum  on  a  large 
scale  was  instituted  by  Mr.  Chaffee  in  Roxbury,  Mass.,  about  1830.  He 
dissolved  the  gum  in  spirits  of  turpentine  and  invented  steam-heated 
rolls  for  spreading  it  upon  cloth.  Companies  were  formed  to  exploit  the 
products,  and  in  the  fall  and  winter  of  1833  and  1834  many  thousands  of 
dollars'  worth  of  goods  were  made  by  the  Roxbury  Company,  but  the  busi- 
ness proved  a  total  failure,  for  in  the  summer  the  goods  melted,  decom- 
posed and  became  so  offensive  as  to  be  worse  than  useless,  while  the  cold 
of  winter  rendered  them  stiff  and  liable  to  crack.  With  a  knowledge  of 
these  facts  and  conditions  Charles  Goodyear  commenced  his  experiments, 
believing  that  there  was  a  great  future  for  this  material  if  it  could  only  be 
prevented  from  melting  in  summer  and  stiffening  in  winter.  He  tried 
mixing  it  with  many  materials,  first  using  magnesia,  which,  however, 
proved  ineffective.  On  June  17,  1837,  he  took  out  patent  No.  240,  in  which 
he  proposed  to  destroy  the  adhesive  properties  of  caoutchouc  by  super- 
ficial application  of  an  acid  solution  of  the  metals,  nitric  acid  with  copper 
or  bismuth  being  specially  recommended.  He  also  claimed  the  incorpora- 
tion of  lime  with  the  gum  to  bleach  it.  Under  this  process  Mr.  Goodyear 
made  various  articles  in  the  form  of  fabrics,  toys  and  ornamental  articles, 
using  the  fabric  to  make  clothing  for  himself,  which  he  wore  to  demon- 
strate its  value  and  wearing  qualities.  A  striking  word  picture  of  Mr. 
Goodyear  at  this  time  is  given  by  the  reply  of  a  gentleman  who,  being 
asked  by  a  man  looking  for  Mr.  Goodyear  as  to  how  he  might  recognize 
him,  replied,  "If  you  meet  a  man  who  has  on  an  India  rubber  cap,  stock, 
coat,  vest,  and  shoes,  and  an  India  rubber  money  purse  in  his  pocket,  with- 
out a  cent  of  money  in  it,  that  is  he." 

Many  useful  and  artistic  articles  were  made  under  this  first  patented 
process,  including  maps,  surgical  bandages,  etc.,  and  were  brought  by  Mr. 
Goodyear  to  the  notice  of  President  Jackson,  Henry  Clay  and  John  C. 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  213 

Calhoun,  from  whom  he  received  very  encouraging  letters.  His  efforts, 
however,  to  introduce  his  process  commercially  were  not  attended  with 
success.  Capitalists  and  manufacturers  had  been  rendered  so  conserva- 
tive by  the  large  loss  of  money  in  the  Roxbury  Company,  that  they  were 
disinclined  to  have  anything  further  to  do  with  it.  Practically  alone  he 
was  obliged  to  continue  his  work.  By  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Chaffee  and 
Mr.  Raskins  he  was  allowed  the  use  of  the  valuable  machinery  standing 
idle  in  their  factory  at  Roxbury,  and  he  made  shoes,  piano  covers,  table 
cloths  and  carriage  covers  of  superior  quality,  and  from  the  sale  of  these, 
and  of  licenses  to  manufacture,  he  for  the  first  time  was  able  to  support 
his  family  in  comfort.  Mr.  Goodyear  had  not  yet  discovered,  however, 
the  process  of  vulcanization,  upon  which  the  rubber  industry  is  founded. 
In  1838  Mr.  Nathaniel  Hayward,  of  Woburn,  Mass.,  who  had  been  em- 
ployed in  the  bankrupt  rubber  company,  discovered  that  the  stickiness  of 
the  rubber  could  be  prevented  by  spreading  a  small  quantity  of  sulphur  on 
it.  The  same  result  had  also  been  noticed  by  a  German  chemist.  On  Feb. 
24,  1839,  Mr.  Hayward  procured  the  patent,  No.  1,090,  on  his  process,  and 
assigned  it  to  Mr.  Goodyear.  The  patent  covered  a  process  of  dissolving 
sulphur  in  oil  of  turpentine  and  mixing  it  with  the  gum,  and  also  included 
the  incorporation  of  the  dry  flowers  of  sulphur  with  the  gum,  the  product 
afterwards  being  treated  by  Mr.  Goodyear's  metallic  salt  process.  This 
was  the  starting  point  of  vulcanization,  for  vulcanization  consists  simply  in 
admixing  sulphur  with  the  rubber,  and  then  subjecting  it  for  six  to  eight 
hours  to  a  temperature  of  about  300°.  Its  effect  is  to  so  change  the  nature 
of  the  gum  to  prevent  it  from  melting  or  becoming  sticky  under  the  in- 
fluence of  heat,  or  of  hardening  and  becoming  stiff  under  the  influence  of 
cold,  the  vulcanized  gum  remaining  elastic,  impervious,  and  unchangeable 
under  all  ordinary  conditions.  This  great  discovery  of  the  influence  of 
heat  on  the  sulphur  treated  gum  was  quite  accidental  and  wholly  unex- 
pected. Heat  above  all  things  was  the  agency  which  in  all  previous  obser- 
vations was  most  to  be  feared,  for  it  was  this  more  than  anything  else  that 
melted  down,  decomposed  and  destroyed  all  of  his  manufactured  arti- 
cles. While  sitting  near  a  hot  stove  engaged  in  an  animated  discussion 
concerning  his  experiments,  a  piece  of  the  gum  treated  with  sulphur, 
which  he  held  in  his  hand,  was,  by  a  rapid  gesture,  thrown  upon  the  stove. 
To  his  astonishment,  he  found  that  this  relatively  high  heat  did  not  melt 
it,  as  heretofore,  and  while  it  charred  slightly,  it  was  not  made  at  all 
sticky.  He  nailed  the  piece  of  gum  outside  the  kitchen  door  in  the  intense 
cold,  and  upon  examining  it  the  next  morning  found  it  as  perfectly  flexible 
as  when  he  put  it  out.  Goodyear  had  discovered  the  process  which  after- 


214  THE   PROGRESS   OF   INVENTION 

wards  came  to.be  known  as  "vulcanization."  The  discovery  was  made  in 
1839,  but  was  not  accepted  by  those  to  whom  it  was  submitted  as  possess- 
ing any  importance.  Prof.  Silliman,  of  Yale  College,  however,  in  the  fall 
of  1839  testified  to  the  results  claimed  for  it  by  Mr.  Goodyear — that  it  did 
not  melt  with  heat,  nor  stiffen  with  the  cold.  On  June  15,  1844,  Mr.  Good- 
year took  out  his  celebrated  patent,  No.  3,633,  covering  this  process,  in 
which  he  not  only  used  sulphur,  but  added  a  proportion  of  white  lead.  The 
proportions  named  were  25  parts  of  rubber,  5  parts  of  sulphur,  and 
7  parts  of  white  lead,  the  ingredients  either  to  be  ground  in  spirits  of  tur- 
pentine, or  to  be  incorporated  dry  between  rolls.  The  odor  imparted  by 
the  sulphur  was  to  be  destroyed  by  washing  with  potash  or  vinegar.  This 
patent  was  reissued  in  two  divisions  Dec.  25,  1849,  and  again  on  Nov.  20, 
1860,  and  was  extended  for  seven  years  from  June  15,  1858,  which  was  the 
end  of  the  first  term.  Under  this  patent  two  kinds  of  rubber  were  made 
and  sold — "soft  rubber,"  containing  only  a  small  proportion  of  sulphur, 
while  the  other,  known  as  the  "vulcanite,"  "ebonite,"  or  "hard  rubber,"  had 
from  25  to  35  per  cent,  of  sulphur  and  was  subjected  to  a  longer  heat. 

The  history  of  this  patent  is  a  remarkable  one.  Immensely  valuable  as 
it  was,  Goodyear  reaped  but  a  small  share  of  the  profit,  for  in  the  midst  of 
his  poverty  and  necessities  he  was  obliged  to  sell  licenses  and  establish 
royalties  at  a  figure  far  below  the  real  value  of  the  rights  conveyed.  Some 
idea  of  the  great  value  of  the  business  which  Mr.  Goodyear  had  developed 
may  be  had  from  the  fact  that  the  companies  who  held  rights  under  the 
patent  for  the  manufacture  of  shoes  paid  at  one  time  to  Daniel  Webster 
the  enormous  fee  of  $25,000  for  defending  their  patent  interests. 

With  the  idea  of  extending  his  invention  Mr.  Goodyear  visited  Eng- 
land in  1851,  where  he  found  that  Thomas  Hancock,  of  the  house  of  Mac- 
intosh &  Co.,  had  forestalled  him,  although  not  the  inventor.  A  peculiar 
provision  of  the  English  patent  law,  which  gives  the  patent  to  the  first 
introducer,  permitted  this.  Nothing  daunted,  however,  he  organized  a 
magnificent  exhibit  for  the  Great  International  Exhibition  held  in  Crystal 
Palace  at  Hyde  Park,  London,  in  1851.  This  exhibit  cost  him  $30,000, 
and  he  called  it  the  Goodyear  Vulcanite  Court.  It  comprehended  an  ele- 
gantly constructed  suite  of  open  rooms  made  of  hard  rubber  ornamented 
with  handsome  carvings,  and  furnished  with  rubber  furniture,  musical  in- 
struments, and  globes  made  of  rubber,  and  it  was  also  carpeted  with  the 
same  material.  For  his  exhibit  he  received  the  "Grand  Council  Medal," 
which  was  one  of  the  highest  testimonials  of  the  exposition.  This  exhibit 
was  afterwards  moved  from  London  to  Sydenham,  where  it  was  exposed 
and  used  as  an  agency  for  some  years  for  the  sale  of  rubber  goods. 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


215 


Mr.  Goodyear  had  obtained  a  French  patent  for  his  invention,  and  at 
the  Exposition  Universelle  in  Paris,  in  1855,  he  fitted  up  at  an  expense  of 
$50,000  two  elegant  courts  with  India  rubber  furniture,  caskets  and  rich 
jewelry,  and  for  this  exhibit  he  had  conferred  upon  him  by  the  Emperor 
Napoleon  the  "Grand  Medal  of  Honor"  and  the  "Cross  of  the  Legion  of 


FIG.    l6l — MACHINE  FOR  GRINDING  AND  WASHING  CRUDE  RUBBER. 

Honor."  It  was  a  singular  instance  of  the  irony  of  fate  that  the  decoration 
of  the  "Cross  of  the  Legion  of  Honor"  should  have  been  conveyed  to 
him  while  imprisoned  for  debt  in  "Clichy,"  the  debtors'  prison  in  Paris. 
The  lofty  courage  of  the  man  was  well  illustrated  at  this  time  in  his  reply 
to  his  wife's  solicitous  inquiries  as  to  how  he  had  spent  the  night  while  in 
prison.  He  said,  "I  have  been  through  nearly  every  form  of  trial  that  hu- 


216 


THE   PROGRESS   OF   INVENTION 


man  flesh  is  heir  to,  and  I  find  that  there  is  nothing  in  life  to  fear  but  sin." 
The  declining  years  of  his  life  were  full  of  sorrow,  pain  and  affliction, 
and  at  his  death  in  1860  his  estate  was  $200,000  in  debt.  He  lived  long 
enough,  however,  to  see  his  material  applied  to  nearly  five  hundred  uses, 
giving  employment  in  England,  France  and  Germany  to  60,000  persons, 
and  producing  in  this  country  alone  goods  worth  $8,000,000  a  year. 

The  greatest  of  all  applications  of  rubber  are  to  be  found  in  the  manu- 
facture of  boots  and  shoes.  The  number  of  attacks  of  cold,  rheumatism, 
and  death-dealing  diseases  from  wet  feet,  that  have  been  averted  by  the 


FIG.   l62. — MAKING  RUBBER  CLOTH. 

use  of  rubber  shoes,  can  never  be  estimated,  but  perhaps  it  is  safe  to  say 
that  the  rubber  shoe  has  done  more  to  conserve  the  health  of  the  human 
family  than  any  other  single  article  of  apparel. 

In  the  manufacture  of  shoes  the  finest  quality  of  rubber  is  received  in 
wooden  boxes  4  x  2  x  il/2  feet,  containing  about  350  pounds  in  lumps  of 
i  to  75  pounds.  These  lumps  are  cut  to  suitable  size,  and  are  then  ground 
and  washed  in  the  machine  shown  in  Fig.  161,  water  and  steam  being 
sprayed  on  the  rubber  during  the  operation.  It  is  then  worked  into  sheets 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  217 

or  mats  between  rolls.  From  the  grinding  room  the  sheets  are  taken  to  the 
mixing  room,  where  lampblack,  sulphur  and  other  ingredients  are  added, 
and  worked  into  it  by  being  passed  many  times  between  heated  rolls,  the 
sheets  being  finally  reduced  to  a  thickness  of  less  than  1-32  of  an  inch.  The 
rubber  sheets  are  then  applied  to  a  cloth  backing  by  cloth  calendering 
rolls,  shown  in  Fig.  162,  which  are  steam  heated  and  by  great  pressure 
serve  to  incorporate  the  sheets  of  rubber  and  cloth  into  intimate  and  in- 
separable union.  Out  of  this  rubber  fabric,  which  is  made  of  different 
thicknesses  for  the  upper,  sole  and  heel,  the  patterns  for  the  shoe  are  cut, 
and  the  parts  are  deftly  fitted  around  the  forms  by  girls,  and  secured  by 
rubber  cement,  as  shown  in  Fig.  163.  The  shoes  are  then  covered  with  a 
coat  of  rubber  varnish,  and  are  put  into  cars  and  run  into  the  vulcanizing 
ovens,  where  they  remain  from  six  to  seven  hours  at  a  temperature  of  about 
275°.  The  goods  are  then  taken  out,  and  after  being  inspected  are  boxed  for 
the  market.  The  vulcanizing  is  a  very  important  part  of  the  manufacture  of 
a  rubber  shoe,  for  it  is  absolutely  necessary  in  order  to  give  them  stability 
and  wearing  qualities.  A  shoe  that  had  not  been  vulcanized  would  mash 
down,  spread,  become  sticky  and  go  to  pieces  after  a  few  hours'  wear. 

The  rubber  shoe  industry  of  the  United  States  is  carried  on  by  about 
fifteen  large  companies,  representing  an  investment  of  many  millions  of 
dollars,  most  of  which  companies  are  located  in  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Isl- 
and and  Connecticut. 

Some  idea  of  the  immensity  of  this  industry  may  be  obtained  from  the 
import  statistics.  In  1899  the  United  States  alone  imported  crude  rub- 
ber to  the  extent  of  51,063,066  pounds,  as  much  as  1,000,000  pounds  a 
month  coming  from  the  single  port  of  Para.  The  export  of  manufactured 
rubber  goods  for  the  same  year  amounted  to  $1,765,385.  The  statistics 
for  Great  Britain  for  1896  showed  the  imports  of  rubber  to  that  country  to 
be  one-third  more  than  the  imports  of  the  United  States.  Germany  also 
is  a  large  consumer.  The  great  Harburg- Vienna  factories  cover  sixty- 
seven  acres,  are  capitalized  at  9,000,000  marks,  and  employ  3,500  hands. 
Much  fine  technical  apparatus,  toys,  and  balls  are  made  here,  the  daily  out- 
put of  balls  reaching  8,000.  These,  with  the  Noah's  arks  of  India  rubber 
animals,  are  the  delight  of  the  little  ones  all  over  the  world. 

Although  so  much  in  evidence  about  us,  India  rubber  is  not  by  any 
means  a  cheap  material.  Costing  only  five  cents  a  pound  when  Goodyear 
commenced  his  experiments,  it  is  now  worth  a  dollar  a  pound,  and  is 
therefore  much  more  expensive  than  any  of  the  ordinary  metals,  woods, 
or  building  materials.  Many  substitutes  in  the  form  of  compositions  of 
various  ingredients  have  been  devised  and  patented,  but  no  real  substitute 


218 


THE   PROGRESS   OF   INVENTION 


for  nature's  product  has  yet  been  found.  For  many  years  old  and  worn 
out  rubber  goods  were  thrown  away  as  worthless.  Now  all  such  rubber 
is  reclaimed,  and  used  in  many  grades  of  goods  which  do  not  require  a 
pure  gum.  Insatiable  as  the  demands  of  the  trade  may  appear,  there  is  no 
need  to  fear  a  rubber  famine,  for  the  forests  of  trees  in  South  America  and 
the  East  Indies  are  practically  inexhaustible,  and  in  the  rich  alluvial  soil  of 
their  habitat  nature's  processes  of  growth  rapidly  restore  the  decimation. 


FIG.   163. — MAKING  RUBBER  SHOES. 

Since  the  time  of  Goodyear,  the  amplification  of  this  art  and  the  multi- 
plication of  uses  for  rubber,  arid  its  increased  commercial  importance,  have 
gone  on  at  such  a  rate  of  increase  that  to-day  we  may  be  said  to  be  living 
in  the  rubber  age.  Its  uses  and  applications  are  legion,  and  they  extend 
literally  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave.  When  the  baby  comes  into  the 
world  its  introduction  to  India  rubber  begins  at  once  with  the  nursing 
bottle  and  the  gum  cloth,  and  when  the  aged  invalid  takes  leave  of  the 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  219 

world  his  last  moments  are  soothed  with  the  water  bag  and  the  rubber 
bed,  and  between  these  extremes  we  find  it  in  evidence  everywhere  about 
us.  In  wearing  apparel  it  extends  from  the  crown  of  the  head  to  the  sole 
of  the  foot — rubber  cap,  coat,  gloves,  and  shoes.  The  man  has  it  in  his 
suspenders  and  his  pipe  stem,  the  woman  in  her  garters  and  dress  shields, 
and  the  baby  in  its  teething  ring  and  rattle.  The  soldier  stands  on  picket 
duty  in  the  rain,  and  the  rubber  blanket  protects  him  from  rheumatism.  If 
wounded,  the  surgeon  dresses  his  mangled  limb  with  rubber  bandages, 
and  when  he  gets  well  he  has  a  rubber  cushion  on  the  end  of  his  crutch, 
or  on  the  foot  of  his  artificial  leg.  If  wounded  in  the  mouth  perhaps  the 
government  gives  him  a  set  of  artificial  teeth  on  a  rubber  plate.  The  rub- 
ber mat  greets  you  at  the  front  door,  a  little  pad  cushions  the  door  stops 
and  the  backs  of  chairs,  and  a  ring  seals  the  mouth  of  the  fruit  jar.  The 
whole  array  of  toilet  articles,  including  combs,  brushes,  mirrors,  shoe 
horns,  etc.,  are  made  from  it.  In  the  parlor  it  is  found  in  picture  frames 
and  the  piano  cover  ;  in  the  bath  room  the  wash  rag,  water  bag,  rubber  cup, 
and  hose  pipe  of  the  shower  bath  are  all  made  of  it ;  in  the  play  room  are 
found  rubber  balls  and  toys  of  all  kinds ;  in  the  kitchen  the  clothes  wringer 
and  the  table  cloth ;  in  the  dining  room  the  handles  of  knives,  and  the  tea 
tray,  and  what  is  more  useful  and  more  ubiquitous  in  the  office  than  the 
rubber  band,  the  rubber  ruler,  the  pencil  eraser,  or  the  fountain  pen  ?  But 
these  are  only  a  few  of  the  personal  and  indoor  uses  and  applications.  Rub- 
ber belting  for  machinery,  fire  engine  and  garden  hose,  steam  engine 
packing,  car  springs,  covers  for  carriages  and  the  big  guns  of  the  navy, 
life  preservers,  billiard  table  cushions,  and  chemical  and  surgical  apparatus 
in  endless  variety.  The  electrical  world  is  almost  entirely  dependent  upon 
it  for  the  insulation  of  our  ocean  cables  and  electric  light  wires,  for  battery 
cups,  and  the  insulating  mountings  of  all  electrical  apparatus.  The  pneu- 
matic bicycle  tire  could  not  exist  without  rubber,  and  the  modern  applica- 
tion of  it  to  this  use  alone  amounts  to  nearly  four  million  pounds  annually. 
Every  automobile  carriage  takes  twenty-five  pounds  of  rubber  for  each 
tire,  or  TOO  pounds  altogether.  This  great  and  growing  industry,  together 
with  the  now  common  use  of  rubber  tires  on  horse-drawn  vehicles,  raises 
the  sum  total  of  rubber  employed  in  the  arts  to  an  enormous  figure. 

That  the  sap  of  an  uncultivated  tree  in  a  swampy,  tropical,  and  malarial 
forest,  thousands  of  miles  from  civilization,  should  cut  so  great  a  figure  in 
the  necessities  of  modern  life,  vseems  strange  and  unaccountable  on  any 
basis  of  probabilities.  It  is  only  another  illustration  of  the  possibilities  of 
the  patient  and  persistent  work  of  the  inventor.  Charles  Goodyear  took 
this  nearlv  worthless  material,  and  made  of  it,  as  Parton  said  in  1865 — 


220  THE   PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 

"not  a  new  material  merely,  but  a  new  class  of  materials,  applicable  to  a 
thousand  divers  uses.  It  was  still  India  rubber,  but  its  surface  would  not 
adhere,  nor  would  it  harden  at  any  degree  of  cold,  nor  soften  at  any  degree 
of  heat.  It  was  a  cloth  impervious  to  water ;  it  was  a  paper  that  would 
not  tear;  it  was  a  parchment  that  would  not  crease;  it  was  leather  which 
neither  rain  nor  sun  would  injure ;  it  was  ebony  that  could  be  run  into  a 
mould ;  it  was  ivory  that  could  be  worked  like  wax  ;  it  was  wood  that  never 
cracked,  shrunk  nor  decayed.  It  was  metal,  'elastic  metal/  as  Daniel 
Webster  termed  it,  that  could  be  wound  round  the  finger,  or  tied  into  a 
knot,  and  which  preserved  its  elasticity  like  steel.  Trifling  variations  in 
the  ingredients,  in  the  proportion  and  in  the  heating,  made  it  either  pliable 
as  kid,  tougher  than  ox  hide,  as  elastic  as  whalebone,  or  as  rigid  as  flint." 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  221 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 
CHEMISTRY. 

ITS  EVOLUTION  AS  A  SCIENCE— THE  COAL  TAR  PRODUCTS— FERMENTING  AND  BREWING 
—GLUCOSE,  GUN  COTTON  AND  NITRO-GLYCERINE— ELECTRO-CHEMISTRY — FERTIL- 
IZERS AND  COMMERCIAL  PRODUCTS — NEW  ELEMENTS  OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CEN- 
TURY. 

THE  foundation  stones  of  empirical  discovery,  upon  which  this  sci- 
ence is  based,  had  been  crudely  shaped  by  the  workmen  of  pre- 
ceding centuries,  but  the  classification  and  laying  of  them  into 
the  structure  of  an  exact  science  is  the  work  of  the   Nine- 
teenth Century.    The  glass  of  the  Phoenicians,  and  the  dyes  and  metallur- 
gical operations  of  the  Egyptians,  involved  some  chemical  knowledge; 
much  more  did  the  operations  of  the  alchemists,  who  vainly  sought  to  con- 
vert the  baser  metals  into  gold,  but  these  were  only  the  crude  building 
stones,  out  of  which  the  great  complex  modern  structure  has  been  raised. 
In  the  Sixteenth  Century  the  study  of  chemistry,  apart  from  alchemy,  be- 
gan, and  some  attention  was  given  to  its  application  to  the  uses  of  medi- 
cine.   Aristotle's  four  elements — fire,  air,  earth  and  water — were  no  longer 
accepted   as   representing   a   correct   theory,   and   new   ones   were   pro- 
posed only  to  be   found  as  erroneous,  and  to  be  superseded   in   time 
by  others. 

Briefly  traversing  the  more  important  of  the  earlier  steps,  there  may 
be  mentioned  the  phlogiston  theory  of  Stahl  in  the  earlier  part  of  the 
Eighteenth  Century ;  the  discovery  of  the  composition  of  water  by  Caven- 
dish in  1766;  of  oxygen  by  Priestly  and  Scheele  in  1774;  the  electro- 
chemical dualistic  theory  of  Lavoisier  in  the  latter  part  of  the  Eighteenth 
Century,  followed  by  a  rational  nomenclature  established  by  Guyton  de 
Morveau,  Berthollet  and  Fourcroy ;  the  doctrine  of  chemical  equivalents 
by  Wenzel  in  1777  and  Richter  in  1792;  Dalton's  atomic  theory;  Wollas- 
ton's  scale  of  chemical  equivalents ;  Gay  Lussac's  law  of  combining  vol- 
umes ;  Berzelius'  system  of  chemical  symbols  and  theory  of  compound  rad- 
icals ;  contributions  of  Sir  Humphrey  Davy  and  Faraday  in  electro-chem- 


222  THE   PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 

istry,  and  Thenard's  grouping  of  the  metals.  These  interesting  phases  of 
development  of  the  old  chemistry  have  been  followed  by  the  new  theory  of 
substitution,  by  Dumas  and  others.  This  change,  beginning  about  1860 
and  running  through  a  period  of  nearly  twenty  years,  has  gradually  sup- 
planted the  old  electro-chemical  dualistic  theory  and  established  the  pres- 
ent system. 

Among  the  important  and  interesting  achievements  of  chemistry  in  the 
Nineteenth  Century  is  the  artificial  production  of  organic  compounds.  All 
such  compounds  had  heretofore  been  either  directly  or  indirectly  derived 
from  plants  or  animals.  In  1828  Wohler  produced  urea  from  inorganic 
substances,  which  was  the  first  example  of  the  synthetic  production  of  or- 
ganic compounds,  and  it  was  for  many  years  the  only  product  so  formed. 
Berthelot,  of  Paris,  by  heating  carbonic  oxide  with  hydrate  of  potash  pro- 
duced formiate  of  potash,  from  which  formic  acid  is  obtained  ;  by  agitating 
olefiant  gas  with  oil  of  vitriol  a  compound  is  produced  from  which,  upon 
the  addition  of  water  and  distillation,  alcohol  is  formed ;  he  also  re-com- 
bined the  fatty  acids  with  glycerine  to  form  the  original  fats. 

In  the  classification  of  this  science,  it  has  been  divided  into  inorganic 
chemistry,  relating  to  metals,  minerals  and  bodies  not  associated  with  or- 
ganic life,  and  organic  chemistry,  which  was  formerly  limited  to  matter 
associated  with  or  the  result  of  growth  or  life  processes,  but  which  is  now 
extended  to  the  broader  field  of  all  carbon  compounds.  In  later  years  the 
most  remarkable  advances  have  been  made  in  the  field  of  organic  chemis- 
try. The  four  elements  carbon,  hydrogen,  oxygen  and  nitrogen  have 
been  juggled  into  innumerable  associations,  and  in  various  proportions, 
and  endless  permutations,  have  been  combined  to  produce  an  unlimited 
series  of  useful  compounds,  such  as  dyes,  explosives,  medicines,  perfumes, 
flavoring  extracts,  disinfectants,  etc. 

The  most  interesting  of  these  compounds  are  the  coal  tar  products. 
Coal  tar,  for  many  years,  was  the  waste  product  of  gas  making.  Forty 
years  ago  about  the  only  use  made  of  it  was  by  the  farmer,  who  painted  the 
ends  of  his  fence  posts  with  it  to  prevent  decay,  or  by  the  fisherman,  who 
applied  it  to  the  bottoms  of  his  boats  and  his  fishing  nets.  To-day  the 
black,  offensive  and  unpromising  substance,  with  magical  metamorphosis, 
has  been  transformed  by  the  chemist  into  the  most  beautiful  dyes,  excelling 
the  hues  and  shades  of  the  rainbow,  the  most  delightful  perfumes  and 
flavoring  extracts,  the  most  useful  medicines,  the  most  powerful  antisep- 
tics, and  a  product  which  is  the  very  sweetest  substance  known.  The 
aniline  dyes  represent  one  of  the  great  developments  in  this  field.  In  1826 
Unverdorben  obtained  from  indigo' a  substance  which  he  called  "Crystal- 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  223 

line."  In  1834  Runge  obtained  from  coal  tar  "Kyanol."  In  1840  Fritzsch 
obtained  from  indigo  a  product  which  he  called  "Aniline,"  from  "Anil," 
the  Portuguese  for  indigo.  Zinin  soon  after  obtained  "Benzidam."  All 
these  substances  were  afterward  proved  to  be  the  same  as  aniline.  Perkins' 
British  patent,  No.  1,984,  of  1856,  is  the  first  patented  disclosure  of  the 
aniline  dyes,  and  represents  the  beginning  of  their  commercial  production. 
This  combines  sulphate  of  aniline  and  bichromate  of  potash  to  produce  an 
exquisite  lilac,  or  purple  color.  The  first  United  States  patent  was  in  1861, 
and  now  there  are  about  1,400  patents  on  carbon  dyes  and  compounds,  the 
most  of  which  belong  to  the  coal  tar  group.  In  dyes  artificial  alizarine,  by  • 
Graebe  and  Lieberman  (Pat.  No.  95,465,  Oct.  5,  1869)  ;  aniline  black,  by 
Lightfoot  (Pat.  No.  38,589,  May  19,  1863)  ;  naphthazarin  black,  by  Bohn 
(Pat.  No.  379,150,  March  6,  1888)  ;  artificial  indigo,  by  Baeyer  (Pat.  No. 
259,629,  June  13,  1882)  ;  the  azo-colors,  by  Roussin  (Pat.  No.  210,054, 
Nov.  19,  1878)  ;  and  the  processes  for  making  colors  on  fibre,  by  Holliday 
(Pat.  No.  241,661,  May  17,  1881),  are  the  most  important.  The  artificial 
production  of  salicylic  acid,  by  Kolbe  (Pat.  No.  150,867,  May  12,  1874), 
marks  an  important  step  in  antiseptics.  Artificial  vanilla,  by  Fritz 
Ach  (Pat.  No.  487,204,  Nov.  29,  1892),  represents  flavoring  extracts;  and 
artificial  musk,  by  Baur  (Pat.  No.  536,324,  March  26,  1895),  is  an  example 
of  perfumes.  In  medicines  a  great  array  of  compounds  has  been  pro- 
duced, such  as  antipyrin,  the  fever  remedy,  by  Knorr  (Pat.  No.  307,399, 
Oct.  28,  1884)  ;  phenacetin,  by  Hinsberg  (Pat.  No.  400,086,  March  26, 
1889)  ;  salol,  by  Von  Nencki  (Pat.  No.  350,012,  Sept.  28,  1886),  and  sul- 
fonal  by  Bauman  (Pat.  No.  396,526,  Jan.  22,  1889).  To  these  may  be 
added  antikamnia"  (acetanilide)  the  headache  remedy,  and  saccharin,  by 
Fahlberg  (Pat.  No.  319,082,  June  2,  1885),  which  latter  is  a  substitute  for 
sugar,  and  thirteen  times  sweeter  than  sugar.  Among  the  more  familiar 
products  of  coal  tar  or  petroleum  are  moth  balls,  carbolic  acid,  benzine, 
vaseline,  and  paraffine. 

In  the  commercial  application  of  chemistry  the  work  of  Louis  Pasteur 
in  fermenting  and  breiving  deserves  special  notice  as  making  a  great  ad- 
vance in  this  art.  His  United  States  patent,  No.  141,072,  July  22,  1873, 
deals  with  the  manufacture  of  yeast  for  brewing. 

The  manufacture  of  sugar  and  glucose  from  starch  is  an  industry  of 
great  magnitude,  which  has  grown  up  in  the  last  twenty-five  years.  Water, 
acidulated  with  i-iooth  part  of  sulphuric  acid,  is  heated  to  boiling,  and  a 
hot  mixture  of  starch  and  water  is  allowed  to  flow  into  it  gradually.  After 
boiling  a  half  hour  chalk  is  added  to  neutralize  the  sulphuric  acid,  and 
when  the  sulphate  of  lime  settles  the  clear  syrup  is  drawn  off,  and  either 


224  THE   PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 

sold  as  syrup,  or  is  evaporated  to  produce  crystallized  grape  sugar,  which 
latter  is  only  about  half  as  sweet  as  cane  sugar.  Glucose  syrup,  however, 
has  largely  superseded  all  other  table  syrups,  and  is  extensively  used  in 
brewing,  for  cheap  candies,  and  for  bee  food.  Our  exports  of  glu- 
cose and  grape  sugar  for  1899  amounted  to  229,003,571  pounds, 
worth  $3,624,890. 

An  important  discovery,  made  in  1846,  was  that  carbohydrates,  such  as 
starch,  sugar,  or  cellulose,  and  glycerine,  when  acted  upon  by  the  strongest 
nitric  acid,  produced  compounds  remarkable  for  their  explosive  character. 
Gun  cotton  and  nitro- glycerine  are  the  most  conspicuous  examples.  Gun 
cotton  is  made  by  treating  raw  cotton  with  nitric  acid,  to  which  a  propor- 
tion of  sulphuric  acid  is  added  to  maintain  the  strength  of  the  nitric  acid 
and  effect  a  more  perfect  conversion.  Besides  its  use  as  an  explosive,  gun 
cotton  when  dissolved  in  ether  has  found  an  important  application  as  collo- 
dion in  the  art  of  photography.  Nitro-glycerine  only  differs  in  its  manu- 
facture from  gun  cotton  in  that  glycerine  is  acted  upon  by  the  acids,  in- 
stead of  cotton.  Pyroxiline,  xyloidine,  and  celluloid  are  allied  products, 
which  have  found  endless  applications  in  toilet  articles  and  for  other  uses, 
as  a  substitute  for  hard  rubber. 

The  applications  of  chemistry  in  the  commercial  world  have  been  in 
recent  years  so  numerous  and  varied  that  it  is  not  possible  to  do  more  than 
to  refer  to  its  uses  in  the  manufacture  of  soda  and  potash,  of  alcohol,  ether, 
chloroform,  and  ammonia,  in  soap  making,  washing  compounds  and  tan- 
ning, the  production  of  gelatine,  the  refining  of  cotton  seed  and  other  oils, 
the  art  of  oxidizing  oils  for  the  manufacture  of  linoleum  and  oil  cloth,  the 
manufacture  of  fertilizers,  white  lead  and  other  paints,  the  preparation  of 
proprietary  medicines,  of  soda  water  and  photographic  chemicals,  the 
manufacture  of  salt  and  preserving  compounds,  in  the  fermentation 
of  liquors  and  brewing  of  beer,  the  preparation  of  cements  and 
street  pavements,  the  manufacture  of  gas,  and  the  embalming  of  the 
dead. 

The  most  interesting  and,  in  many  respects,  the  most  important,  de- 
velopment of  the  last  twenty-five  years  has  been  in  electro-chemistry. 
Electro-chemical  methods  are  now  employed  for  the  production  of  a  large 
number  of  elements,  such  as  the  alkali  and  alkaline  earth  metals,  copper, 
zinc,  aluminum,  chromium,  manganese,  the  halogens,  phosphorus,  hydro- 
gen, oxygen,  and  ozone;  various  chemicals,  including  the  mineral  acids, 
hydrates,  chlorates,  hypochlorites,  chromates,  permanganates,  disinfectants, 
alkaloids,  coal  tar  dyes,  and  various  carbon  compounds ;  white  lead  and 
other  pigments ;  varnish ;  in  bleaching,  dyeing,  tanning ;  in  extracting 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  225 

grease  from  wool ;  in  purifying  water,  sewerage,  sugar  solutions,  and  alco- 
holic beverages.  The  present  low  price  of  aluminum,  reduced  from  $12  per 
pound  in  1878  to  33  cents  now,  is  due  to  its  production  by  electrical  meth- 
ods. Among  the  earliest  successful  processes  is  that  described  in  patents 
to  Cowles  and  Cowles,  No.  319,795,  June  9,  1885,  and  No.  324,658,  August 
1 8,  1885,  in  which  a  mixture  of  alumina,  carbon  and  copper  is  heated  to 
incandescence  by  the  passage  of  a  current,  the  reduced  aluminum  alloying 
with  the  copper.  This  has  now  been  superseded  by  the  Hall  process  ( Pat. 
No.  400,766,  April  2,  1889),  in  which  alumina,  dissolved  in  fused  cryolite, 
is  electrolytically  decomposed.  Practically  all  the  copper  now  produced, 
except  that  from  Lake  Superior,  is  refined  electrolytically  by  substantially 
the  method  of  Farmer's  patent  (Pat.  No.  322,170,  July  14,  1885).  All 
metallic  sodium  and  potassium  are  now  obtained  by  electrolysis  of  fused 
hydroxides  or  chlorides  (Pats.  No.  452,030,  May  12,  1891,  to  Castner,  and 
No.  541,465,  June  25,  1895,  to  Vautin).  The  production  of  caustic  soda, 
sodium  carbonate,  and  chlorine  by  the  electrolysis  of  brine,  is  carried  on 
upon  a  large  scale,  and  will  probably  supersede  all  other  methods.  Nolf's 
process  (Pat.  No.  271,906,  Feb.  6,  1883),  and  Caster's  (No.  528,322,  Oct. 
30,  1894),  employ  a  receiving  body  or  cathode  of  mercury,  alternately 
brought  in  contact  with  the  brine  undergoing  decomposition,  and  with 
water  to  oxidize  the  contained  sodium.  Carborundum,  or  silicide  of  car- 
bon, is  largely  superseding  emery  and  diamond  dust  as  an  abradant.  It 
is  produced  by  Acheson  (Pat.  No.  492,767,  Feb.  28,  1893),  by  passing  a 
current  of  electricity  through  a  mixture  of  silica  and  carbon.  Calcium 
carbide,  a  rare  compound  a  few  years  ago,  is  now  cheaply  produced  by  the 
action  of  an  electric  arc  on  a  mixture  of  lime  and  carbon,  as  described  by 
Willson  (Pats.  Nos.  541,137,  541,138,  June  18,  1895).  Calcium  carbide 
resembles  coke  in  general  appearance,  and  it  is  used  for  the  manufacture 
of  acetylene  gas,  for  which  purpose  it  is  only  necessary  to  immerse  the 
calcium  carbide  in  water,  and  the  gas  is  at  once  given  off  by  the  mutual 
decomposition  of  the  water  and  the  carbide. 

Agricultural  chemistry  is  another  one  of  the  practical  developments 
of  the  Nineteenth  Century.  A  hundred  years  ago  the  farmer  planted  his 
crops,  prayed  for  rain,  and  trusted  to  Providence  for  the  increase;  he 
was  not  infrequently  disappointed,  but  was  wholly  unable  to  account  for  the 
failure.  To-day  the  intelligent  farmer  understands  the  value  of  nitrogen, 
has  ascertained  how  it  may  be  fed  to  his  crops  through  the  agency  of  nitri- 
fying organisms,  or  he  has  his  soil  analyzed  at  the  Agricultural  Depart- 
ment, finds  out  what  element  it  lacks  for  the  crop  desired,  and  in  chem- 
ically prepared  fertilizers  supplies  that  deficiency.  The  chemical  analysis 


226  THE   PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 

of  drinking  water  has  also  contributed  much  to  the  knowledge  of  right  liv- 
ing and  to  the  avoidance  of  disease  and  death,  which  our  forefathers  were 
accustomed  to  regard  as  dispensations  of  Providence. 

America  has  furnished  some  eminent  chemists  in  the  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury, who  have  made  valuable  contributions  to  the  science,  notably  in  the 
field  of  metallurgy.  It  is  a  fact,  however,  which  must  be  admitted  with 
regret,  that  America  has  not  in  the  field  of  chemical  research  occupied  the 
leading  place  she  has  in  mechanical  progress.  The  European  laboratory  is 
the  birthplace  of  most  modern  inventions  in  the  chemical  field,  and  this  is 
so  simply  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  these  more  patient  investigators  have 
set  themselves  studiously,  systematically  and  persistently  to  the  work  of 
chemical  invention.  It  is  said  that  some  of  the  large  commercial  works 
in  Germany  have  over  100  Ph.  D.'s  in  a  single  manufacturing  establish- 
ment, whose  work  is  not  directed  to  the  management  of  the  manufacture, 
but  solely  to  original  research,  and  the  making  of  inventions.  The  labora- 
tories in  such  works  differ  from  those  in  the  universities  only  in  being 
more  perfectly  equipped,  and  more  sumptuously  appointed.  The  result  of 
this  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  in  1899  the  United  States  imported  coal  tar  dyes 
alone  to  the  extent  of  $3,799,353,  and  5,227,098  pounds  of  alizarine,  most 
of  which  came  from  Germany,  and  for  which  we  paid  a  good  price,  since 
the  German  manufacturers  control  the  United  States  patents.  The  aliza- 
rine dyes  are  for  the  most  part  the  artificial  kind  made  by  German  chemists. 
Prior  to  1869  the  red  alizarine  dye  was  of  plant  origin,  being  obtained  from 
madder  root,  and  it  cost  $2  a  pound.  The  German  chemist  produced  an 
artificially  made  product,  which  took  the  place  of  the  madder  dye,  and  was 
sold  at  $1.20  a  pound.  At  the  end  of  the  patent  term  (seventeen  years) 
the  price  fell  to  I5c.  a  pound,  showing  that  the  product  was  produced 
at  a  profit  of  more  than  $1.05  a  pound,  and  as  millions  of  pounds  were  im- 
ported annually,  it  is  estimated  that  $35,000,000  was  the  price  paid  the 
German  chemists  for  their  foresight  in  combining  science  with  business. 
Many  United  States  patents  granted  to  foreign  chemists  are  still  in  force, 
and  the  rich  reward  of  their  skill  is  reaped  at  our  expense. 

Discovery  of  elements. — In  the  early  days  of  chemical  knowledge,  fire, 
air,  earth  and  water  constituted  the  insignificant  category  of  the  elements, 
which  was  as  faulty  in  classification  as  it  was  small  in  size..  Gradual  split- 
ting up  of  compounds,  and  an  increase  in  the  number  of  elements,  has  gone 
on  progressively  for  some  hundreds  of  years,  until  to-day  the  list  extends 
well  on  to  one  hundred  elementary  bodies.  Those  which  belong  to  the 
credit  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  are  given  in  the  table  following,  with  the 
name  of  the  discoverer,  and  the  date  of  its  discoverv. 


IN    THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY. 

ELEMENTS    DISCOVERED    IN    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY. 


227 


ELEMENTS. 

Columbium 
Tantalum  .  .  . 
Iridium   
Osmium      .... 
Cerium  
Palladium  .... 
Rhodium 

DISCOVERER. 

..Hatchett  

YEAR. 

1801 

ELEMENTS. 

Erbium 

DISCOVERER. 

.Mosander. 

YEAR. 

....1843 

...  1843 

i$Ae 

Ekeberg  

1802 

Terbium. 

Mosander 

.  Tenant  

1803 

Ruthenium  .  . 

.Claus     . 

..Tenant    
.  Berzelius  

..1803 
.  1803 

Rubidium  
Caesium  
Thallium  

Indium.  ... 

Gallium  
Ytterbium  
Samarium  .... 
Scandium  
Thulium 

.  Bunsen  
.Bunsen  
Crookes  
j  Reich      ) 
1  Richter  J  ' 
.  Boisbaudran  .  . 

....i860 
....1860 
....1862 

....1863 

.    -.1875 
1878 

.  Wollaston.  .    .. 

1804 

Wollaston 

.  .  1804 
.  .  1807 
.   1807 
1808 

Potassium  .... 
Sodium  
Barium  

Davy.   ... 

.  Davy  
.  .  Davy. 

Strontium  
Calcium  
Boron  ... 
Iodine  .... 

.  Davy  
.Davy  
.  Davy  
Courtois 

.   1808 
1808 
..1808 
1811 

.  Boisbaudran  .  . 
.  Nilson  
Cleve.   .  . 

....1879 
....  1879 
1870 

Neodymium.  . 
Praseodymium 
Gadolinium.  .  . 
Germanium.  .  . 

Argon  
Krypton 

Welsbach 

i88e 

Cyanogen  
(Comp. 
Selenium  
Cadmium 

.  .  Gay  Lussac  .  .  . 

.  .1814 

.  Welsbach  
.  .Marignac 

....1885 
..    1886 
...    1886 

....1894 
1897 
1898 

rad.) 
.  .  Berzelius  

..1817 
..1817 
1817 

.  .Winkler  
(  Raleigh  I 
(  Ramsey  ) 
j  Ramsey  ) 
\  Travers  J  '  ' 
{  Ramsey  ) 

Lithium    
Silicon  

.  .  Arfvedson 

.  .  Berzelius. 

1821 

Zirconium  
Bromine  

.  .  Berzelius  
.  Balard 

...1824 
1826 

Neon  

Metargon  

Coronium  
Xenon.  . 

..1828 
1828 

Yttrium.      .  .  . 
Glucinum  .  .  .  . 
Aluminum 

Wohler. 

(  Ramsey  ) 

....1898 

Wohler. 

1828 

..Nasini  

....1898 
1898 

Magnesium.     . 
Vanadium 
Lanthanum.  .  . 
Didvmium  .  .  . 

Bussey  

.  .  .1829 

Sefstroem  

.  .  .1830 

Monium    
Etherion(?).    . 

..Crookes.    .   .. 
.  .  Brush  

....  1898 
..1898 

.  .  Mosander. 
.  .  Mosander.  .  . 

1839 
.  .  .1810 

Whether  or  not  these  so-called  elements  are  really  true  elementary 
forms  of  matter,  which  are  absolutely  indivisible,  is  a  problem  for  the 
chemists  of  the  coming  centuries  to  solve.  The  classification  has  the  ap- 
proval of  the  present  age.  What  new  elements  may  be  found  no  one  may 
predict.  Mendele Jeff's  periodic  lazv,  however,  suggests  great  possibilities 
in  this  field.  Allotropism,  in  which  the  same  element  will  present  entirely 
different  physical  aspects,  is  also  a  significant  and  suggestive  phenomenon, 
for  in  it  we  see  carbon  appearing  at  one  time  as  a  crude,  black  and  ungainly 
mass  of  coal,  and  at  another  it  appears  as  the  limpid  and  flashing  diamond. 
In  more  than  one  mind  there  is  a  lurking  suspicion  that  there  may,  after  all, 
be  only  one  form  of  primordial  matter,  from  which  all  others  are  derived 
by  some  wondrous  play  of  the  atoms,  and  if  so  the  old  idea  of  the  alchem- 
ist as  to  the  transmutation  of  metals  may  not  be  entirely  wrong.  The 
Twentieth  Century  may  give  us  more  light. 


THE   PROGRESS   OF   INVENTION 


CHAPTER  XIX. 
FOOD  AND  DRINK. 

THE  NATVRE  OF  FOOD — THE  ROLLER  MILL — THE  MIDDLINGS  PURIFIER — CULINARY 
UTENSILS — BREAD  MACHINERY — DAIRY  APPLIANCES — CENTRIFUGAL  MILK  SKIM- 
MER— THE  CANNING  INDUSTRY — STERILIZATION — BUTCHERING  AND  DRESSING 
MEATS — OLEOMARGARINE — MANUFACTURE  OF  SUGAR — THE  VACUUM  PAN — CEN- 
TRIFUGAL FILTER — MODERN  DIETETICS  AND  PATENTED  FOODS. 

IF  called  upon  to  name  the  most  important  of  all  factors  of  human  exist- 
ence, that  which  underlies  and  sustains  all  others,  even  to  life  itself, 
everyone  must  agree  that  it  is  food.  A  remarkable  fact  in  this 
connection  is  that  all  animal  life  lives  and  thrives  by  eating  some 
other  thing  that  is  or  has  been  alive,  or  is  the  product  of  organic 
growth.  The  vegetarian  may  pride  himself  upon  his  higher  ideals  of  liv- 
ing, but  after  all  his  fruit,  vegetables,  and  cereals  belong  to  the  great  cate- 
gory of  living  organisms,  and  are  to  a  certain  extent  sentient  and  con- 
scious, for  even  the  plant  will  turn  to  the  sun.  The  beasts  of  the  field  and 
fowls  of  the  air  live  by  preying  upon  other  weaker  animals  and  birds, 
these  upon  plants  and  grasses,  and  the  plants  and  grasses  upon 
the  decaying  mosses  and  organic  mould  of  the  soil,  and  the 
mosses  upon  still  lower  organisms.  The  big  fish  of  the  sea  eat  the  little 
fish,  the  little  fish  the  small  fry,  and  these  in  turn  live  upon  worms  and 
animalcula,  and  so  on  all  the  way  down  to  protoplasm.  Omniverous  man, 
in  spite  of  his  boasted  civilization  and  enlightment,  not  only  eats  them  all, 
flesh,  fowl,  fish,  grain  and  plants,  but  lives  exclusively  upon  them.  But  he 
can  only  live  on  that  which  has  been  produced  by  the  mysterious 
agency  of  life,  and  this  furnishes  a  significant  suggestion  for  the  philoso- 
pher, for  it  may  be  that  life  itself  is  only  an  accumulated  active  power  or 
unitary  force  regenerated  in  some  metamorphic  way  from  vital  force 
stored  up  in  the  bacteria  of  organic  food,  and  necessarily  connected  there- 
with in  an  endless  chain  of  reproductions,  and  if  this  be  true,  the  hope  of 
the  scientist  as  to  the  synthesis  of  food  from  its  elements  must  ever  re- 
main a  philosophic  dream,  because  the  scientist  cannot  create  a  bacterium. 
It  has  been  said  that  when  a  man  eats  meat  he  thinks  meat,  and  when 
he  eats  bread  he  thinks  bread,  and  when  he  eats  fruit  he  thinks  fruit.  It 
is  not  clear  that  the  quality  or  character  of  man's  food  is  so  closely  cor- 


IN    THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY.  229- 

related  to  his  thought,  but  that  it  has  its  influence  cannot  be  doubted.  It 
would  be  safer  to  say,  however,  that  when  a  man  eats  meat  he  acts  meat, 
and  when  he  eats  bread  he  acts  bread,  for  the  muscular  energy  and  ag- 
gressive potentiality  appear  to  be  much  more  closely  related  to  the  quality 
of  his  food  than  are  his  thoughts.  May  it  not  be  that  the  powerful  achieve- 
ment of  the  British  Empire  was  directly  related  to  its  roast  beef?  Is  not 
the  listless  apathy  of  the  Chinese  due  to  a  diet  of  rice?  Is  not  the  domi- 
nant and  masterful  power  of  the  lion  or  the  ea^le  related  to  a  carniverous- 
diet,  and  the  mild  and  placid  temper  of  the  ox  the  reflex  expression  of 
his  vegetable  food  ?  It  is  quite  true  that  our  potentialities  are  largely  rep- 
resented by  what  we  eat,  and  our  food  therefore  becomes  a  most  interest- 
ing topic,  not  only  by  virtue  of  its  indispensable  quality,  but  by  reason  also* 
of  the  possibilities  of  development  in  the  betterment  and  elevation  of  the 
human  race. 

From  the  earliest  times  even  down  to  the  present  day  man's  food  has 
been  the  same — flesh,  fish,  cereals,  fruits  and  vegetables.  The  development 
of  the  present  century  has  not  extended  this  category,  but  it  has  been  di- 
rected to  an  increase  in  the  supply,  an  improvement  in  quality,  the  preser- 
vation against  decay  and  waste,  and  its  intelligent  selection  and  adaptation 
to  the  special  needs  of  the  body.  Progress  manifests  itself  in  the  great 
field  of  agriculture,  in  improved  processes  and  machines  for  milling;  in 
butchering,  packing  and  handling  meats ;  in  preserving  and  drying  fruits ; 
in  the  preparation  of  canned  goods,  in  dairy  appliances,  in  cake  and 
cracker  machines ;  in  the  manufacture  of  sugar ;  in  the  great  advance  in 
cookery ;  in  the  science  of  dietetics,  and  in  thousands  of  minor  industries. 

In  agriculture  the  raising  of  grain  has  extended  in  the  Nineteenth 
Century  to  enormous  proportions.  More  than  ten  thousand  patents  for 
plows,  as  many  for  reapers,  and  a  proportionate  number  of  planters,  culti- 
vators, threshers,  and  other  implements  and  tools  represent  the  extent  to 
which  inventive  genius  has  been  directed  to  the  increase  of  the  yield  in  the 
harvest  field. 

This  yield  in  the  United  States  for  the  year  1898  was : 

Corn 1,924,184,660  bushels 

Wheat 675,148,705  bushels 

Oats 730,906,643  bushels 

Rye   25,657,522  bushels 

Barley 55.792-257  bushels 

Buckwheat 11,721,927  bushels 

Potatoes    192,306,338  bushels 

For  converting  the  grain  into  flour,  the  inventors  of  the  Nineteenth 


230 


THE  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 


Century  have  made  revolutionary  changes.  Milling  processes  within  the 
last  twenty-five  years  have  been  completely  transformed  by  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  roller  mill  and  middlings  purifier.  Formerly  two  horizontal 
disk-shaped  stones  or  burrs  were  employed,  the  lower  one  stationary  and 
the  upper  one  revolving  in  a  horizontal  plane  and  crudely  crushing  the 
grain  between  them.  In  all  modern  mills  these  have  been  entirely  displaced 
by  porcelain  rolls  revolving  on  horizontal  axes  and  crushing  the  grain  be- 
tween them.  The  first  of  these  roller  mills  is  shown  in  pat.  No.  182,250,  to 
Wegmann,  Sept.  12,  1876.  (See  Fig.  164).  The  outer  rolls  d  e  are  pressed 


FIG.    164. — ROLLER  PROCESS  OF  MAKING  FLOUR,   WEGMANN^S  PATENT. 

against  the  inner  ones  a  c  by  a  system  of  weighted  levers,  and  scrapers  be- 
low remove  the  crushed  grain  from  the  periphery  of  the  rolls.   Many  sub- 


IN   THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY 


23i 


sequent  improvements  have  been  made,  one  type  of  which  employs  a  suc- 
cession of  rolls  which  act  in  pairs  on  the  grain  one  after  the  other  and  re- 
duce it  by  successive  gradations. 

The  middlings  purifier,  see  Fig.  165,  comprehends  a  flat  bolt  or  shaker 
screen  b,  of  bolting 
cloth,  arranged  as  a 
horizontal  partition 
in  an  enclosing  case 
through  which  passes 
an  upward  draft  of 
air  produced  by  suc- 
tion fan  D  at  the  top. 
This  air  passing  up 
through  the  bolting 
screen  lifts  the  bran 
specks  and  fuzz  from 
the  shaken  material 
as  it  passes  down- 
ward through  the 
screen,  brushes  K  be- 
ing arranged  below 
to  keep  the  screen 
constantly  clean.  A 

representative  and  pioneer  type  of  this  machine  is  seen  in  Pat.  No.  164,050 
to  George  T.  Smith,  June  i,  1875,  from  which  the  view  is  taken. 
The  useful  effect  of  the  roller  mill  and  middlings  purifier  is  to  save  the 
most  nutritious  and  valuable  part  of  the  grain,  which  lies  between  the  outer 
cuticle  and  the  white  starch  within,  and  which  breaks  up  in  fine  grains  and 
is  of  a  golden  hue.  This  portion  of  the  grain  was  formerly  unseparated, 
and  was  mixed  with  the  middlings  and  bran  as  an  inferior  product.  Mod- 
ern analysis  has  disclosed  its  superior  food  value,  and  the  roller  mill  and 
middlings  purifier  have  provided  means  by  which  it  can  be  separated  from 
the  bran  and  incorporated  With  the  flour,  thereby  greatly  adding  to  its 
wholesome  character  and  nutritive  value,  and  imparting  to  the  flour  the 
rich  creamy  tint  which  characterizes  all  higher  grades. 

Minneapolis,  Minn.,  is  the  great  center  of  the  milling  interests  of  the 
United  States.  The  Pillsbury  Mills  are  located  there,  and  the  "Pillsbury 
A."  which  is  said  to  be  the  largest  in  the  world,  has  a  capacity  of  7,000 
barrels  per  day. 

In  1877-78  disastrous  flour  dust  explosions  at  Minneapolis  brought 


FIG.    165.— MIDDLINGS   PURIFIER. 


232 


THE  PROGRESS   OP  INVENTION 


about  the  development  of  the  dust  collector,  for  withdrawing  from  the  air 
of  the  mills  the  suspended  particles  of  flour  dust,  which  not  on1y  invited 
explosion,  but  rendered  the  air  unfit  to  breathe.  Washburn's  Pat.  No. 
213,151,  March  n,  1879,  is  an  early  example. 

The  use  of  crushing  rolls  has  also  developed  a  great  variety  of  new 
foods,  such  as  cracked  wheat,  oatmeal  grits,  etc.  These  crushing  rolls 
have  sometimes  been  made  hollow,  and  are  steam  heated,  and  as  they  crush 
the  grain  they  simultaneously  effect  the  cooking  or  partial  conversion  of 
the  starch,  and  the  product  is  known  as  hominy  flake,  ceraline,  coralline, 
etc.,  which  furnish  popular  breakfast  foods  when  served  with  cream. 

In  the  field  of  cookery  such  activity  has  been  displayed  that  the  average 
kitchen  to-day  is  a  veritable  museum  of  modern  inventions.  Egg  beaters, 
waffle  irons,  toasters,  broilers,  baking  pans,  apple  parers,  cherry  stoners, 
Cheese  cutters,  butter  workers,  coffee  mills,  corn  poppers,  cream  freezers, 


FIG.    1 66. — DOUGH   MIXER. 


dish  washers,  egg  boilers,  flour  sifters,  flat  irons,  knife  sharpeners,  can 
openers,  lemon  squeezers,  potato  mashers,  meat  boilers,  nutmeg  graters, 
sausage  grinders,  and  frying  pans  in  endless  array ;  all  patented  and  clus- 


IN    THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY. 


233 


tered  around  the  modern  cooking  range  as  a  central  figure,  and  all  pre- 
senting points  of  excellence  in  the  matter  of  economy  and  convenience,  or 
the  betterment  of  result.  The  most  extensive  application  of  inventive 
genius  is  to  be  found  in  the  large  manufacturing  bakeries,  which  make  and 
sell  the  millions  of  pounds  of  crackers  and  cakes  that  fill  the  bins  and 
shelves  of  the  grocery  store.  In  these  manufactories  the  dough  is  prepared 
by  a  mixer,  see  Fig.  166,  which  consists  of  a  spiral  working  blade  revolv- 
ing in  a  trough,  and  ca- 
pable of  handling  half  a 
dozen  barrels  of  flour  at 
a  time.  It  is  then  put 
through  a  kneading  ma- 
chine, called  a  "brake," 
shown  in  Fig.  167,  and 
is  then  ready  to  be  con- 
verted into  crackers  or 
cakes  on  a  great  machine 
25  feet  long,  which  fin- 
ishes the  crackers  and 
puts  them  in  the  pan 
ready  for  the  oven.  This 
machine,  see  Fig.  168, 
receives  the  dough  at  A, 
where  it  is  coated  with 

flour  and  flattened  into  a  sheet  between  rolls.  It  is  then  received  on  a  trav- 
eling apron  B,has  the  flour  brushed  off  by  a  rotary  brush  C.and  is  then  cut 
into  crackers  or  cakes  by  vertically  reciprocating  dies  U.  At  E  a  series  of 
fingers  press  the  cakes  down  through  the  sheet  of  dough,  while  the  sur- 
rounding scraps  are  raised  on  a  belt  F  and  delivered  into  a  suitable  re- 
ceptacle. The  separated  cakes  at  B1  are  then  delivered  into  pans  at  G,  the 
pans  being  fed  on  the  subjacent  belt  at  G1.  Such  machines,  costing  nearly 
a  thousand  dollars,  produce  from  forty  to  sixty  barrels  of  crackers  a  day, 
enabling  them  to  be  sold  at  about  5  cents  a  pound  at  retail. 

Dairy  Appliances  have  come  in  for  a  large  share  of  attention  at  the 
hands  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  inventor.  There  are  about  sixteen  million 
milch  cows  in  the  United  States,  and  their  contribution  to  the  food  stuffs  of 
the  day  in  milk,  butter,  and  cheese  is  no  insignificant  factor.  There  have 
been  over  2,700  patents  granted  for  churns  alone,  and  besides  these  there 
are  milk  coolers,  cheese  presses,  milk  skimmers,  and  even  cow  milkers. 
The  centrifugal  milk  skimmer  is  an  interesting  type  of  this  class  of  ma- 


FIG.    ID/.— BRAKE,   OR    KNEADING    MACHINE. 


234 


THE  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 


chine.    In  the  old  way  the  milk  was  set  for  the  cream  to  rise,  which  it  did 
slowly  from  its  lighter  specific  gravity.     In  the  centrifugal  skimmer  the 


milk  is  continuously  poured  in  through  a  funnel,  and  the  cream  runs  out 
continuously  through  one  spout,  and  the  skimmed  milk  at  the  other.    An 


IN    THE   NINETEENTH    CENTURY. 


235 


ilustrative  type  of  this  machine  is  shown  in  Fig.  169.  A  steam  turbine 
wheel  near  the  base  turns  a  vertical  shaft  bearing  at  its  upper  end  a  pan 
which  rotates  within  the  outer  case.  The  milk  enters  through  the  faucet 
at  the  top,  and  as  the 
pan  within  rotates,  the 
heavier  milk,  by  its 
greater  specific  gravity, 
is  thrown  to  the  outer 
part  of  the  pan  and 
passes  out  through  the 
larger  of  t  he  two 
spouts,  while  the  lighter 
cream  is  crowded  to  the 
center  and  passes  out  of 
the  upper  spout,  which 
opens  into  the  center  of 
the  pan.  Patents  to  Le- 
feldt  &  Lentsch,  No. 
195,515,  Sept.  25,  1877, 
and  Houston  and  Thom- 
son, No.  239,659,  April 
5,  1 88 1,  represent  pio- 
neer milk  skimmers  of 
this  type. 

Closely  allied  to  the 
dairy  appliances  are  the 
incubator  and  the  bee 
hive,  both  of  whicrThave 
claimed  a  large  share  of 
attention,  and  for  which 
many  patents  have  been 
granted. 

One  important  and  characteristic  feature  of  the  present  age  is  the  con- 
servation of  waste  in  perishable  foodstuffs.  Fruits,  vegetables,  fish  and 
oysters  were  suitable  food  to  our  forefathers  only  when  freshly  taken, 
and  any  superabundance  in  supply  was  either  wasted  by  natural  processes 
of  decay,  or  was  fed  to  the  hogs.  To-day  thousands  of  patented  fruit  dry- 
ers, cider  mills,  and  preserving  processes  save  this  waste  and  carry  over  for 
valuable  use  through  the  unproductive  winter  months  these  wholesome  and 
valuable  articles  of  diet.  Even  more  important  is  the  canning  industry,  by 


FIG.    169. — CENTRIFUGAL   MILK   SKIMMER. 


236  THE  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 

which  not  only  fruits  are  maintained  in  a  practically  fresh  condition  for  an 
indefinite  time,  but  oysters,  meats,  fish,  soups,  and  vegetables  are  also  put 
up  in  enormous  quantities.  To-day  the  grocer's  shelves  present  an  endless 
array  of  canned  tomatoes,  peaches,  corn,  peas,  beans,  fish,  oysters,  con- 
densed milk,  and  potted  meats,  which  constitute  probably  three-fourths  of 
his  staple  goods.  The  tin  can  is  in  itself  a  very  insignificant  thing,  not  enti- 
tled to  rank  with  any  of  the  great  inventions,  but  in  the  every-day  campaign 
of  life  it  is  playing  its  part,  and  working  its  influence  to  an  extent  that  is 
little  dreamed  of  by  the  casual  observer.  It  renders  possible  our  military 
and  exploring  expeditions ;  it  holds  famine  and  starvation  in  abeyance ;  it 
gives  wholesome  variety  to  the  diet  of  both  rich  and  poor;  and  it  trans- 
fers the  glut  of  the  full  season  to  the  want  of  future  days.  Perhaps  no 
single  factor  of  modern  life  has  so  great  an  economic  value.  Simple  as  is 
the  tin  can,  quite  complex  machines  are  required  to  make  it.  Originally 
such  machines  were  operated  by  hand  or  foot  power,  but  within  the  last 
25  years  power  machines  have  been  devised  which  automatically  convert 
a  simple  blank  or  plate  of  sheet  metal  into  a  finished  can.  Of  the  many  pat- 
ents granted  for  such  machines  the  most  representative  ones  are  243,287, 
250,096,  267,014,  384,825,  450,624,  465,018,  480,256,  495,426,  489,484- 

In  the  process  of  putting  up  canned  goods  the  products  are  filled  into 
the  cans,  and  the  caps,  or  heads,  are  soldered  on.  These  caps  have  a 
minute  hole  in  the  center  for  the  escape  of  air  and  steam  in  the  process  of 
cooking  and  sterilizing,  which  is  conducted  as  follows :  A  large  number  of 
cans  are  placed  on  a  tray  swung  from  a  crane  and  the  cans  lowered  into  one 
of  a  series  of  great  cooking  boilers.  The  cover  of  the  boiler  is  then  closed 
and  fastened  by  lugs,  and  steam  turned  on  until  the  goods  in  the  can  are 
thoroughly  heated  through.  During  this  process  the  air  and  steam  escape 
through  the  little  vent  hole  from  the  interior  of  each  can.  The  cans  are 
then  removed,  the  vent  hole  closed  by  a  drop  of  solder,  and  the  goods  thus 
hermetically  sealed  in  a  cooked  or  sterilized  condition  will  keep  for  a  long 
period  of  time. 

Sterilizing. — During  the  last  quarter  of  the  century,  which  has  wit- 
nessed the  growth  of  the  wonderful  science  of  bacteriology,  a  class  of  de- 
vices known  as  sterilizers  has  come  into  existence,  whose  primary  function 
is  to  kill  the  germs  of  decay  by  heat.  This  has  had  in  the  canning  industry 
an  important  commercial  application.  An  example  is  found  in  the  patent 
to  Shriver,  No.  149,256,  March  31,  1874.  In  some  of  these  devices  the  re- 
ceptacles containing  the  food  stuffs  are  in  large  numbers  placed  within  the 
heating  chamber,  and  by  devices  operated  from  the  outside  the  cans  or 


IN    THE  ^NINETEENTH   CENTURY.  237 

bottles  are  opened  and  shut  while  within  the  steam  filled  chamber.  A  late 
illustration  is  found  in  patent  to  Popp  et  al.,  524,649,  August  14,  1894. 

Butchering  and  Dressing  Meats. — Chicago  is  the  leading  city  of  the 
world  in  this  industry,  and  Armour  &  Co.  the  largest  packers.  In  the  year 
ending  April  i,  1891,  they  killed  and  dressed  1,714,000  hogs,  712,000  cat- 
tle, and  413,000  sheep.  They  had  7,900  employees,  and  2,250  refrigerating 
cars  were  employed  for  the  transportation  of  their  products.  The  ground 
area  covered  by  their  buildings  was  fifty  acres,  giving  a  floor  area  of  140 
acres,  a  chill  room  and  cold  storage  area  of  forty  acres,  and  a  storage  ca- 
pacity of  130,000  tons.  In  addition  to  its  meat  packing  business  the  firm 
has  separate  glue  works,  with  buildings  covering  fifteen  acres,  where  600 
hands  are  employed,  their  production  in  1890  being  7,000,000  pounds  of 
glue,  and  9,500  tons  of  fertilizer.  Since  1891  this  great  business  has  in- 
creased until  to-day  it  is  said  that  the  army  of  workmen  employed  is 
greater  than  that  of  Xenophon,  that  the  firm  pays  out  in  wages  alone,  half  a 
millions  dollars  every  month,  that  four  thousand  cars  are  required  to  carry 
the  products  of  their  factory,  and  whose  business  amounts  to  the  enormous 
sum  of  one  hundred  million  dollars  annually. 

There  are  from  forty  to  fifty  million  cattle  raised  in  the  United  States, 
and  an  equal  amount  of  sheep.  The  number  of  hogs  raised  has  diminished 
somewhat  in  the  past  few  years,  but  from  1889  to  1892  more  than  fifty  mil- 
lion were  maintained.  The  process  of  slaughtering  and  dressing  pork,  as 
practiced  to-day,  is  a  continuous  one,  and  is  well  illustrated  in  Fig.  170,  in 
13  operations.  The  animals  are  driven  into  a  catching  pen  at  I,  where  they 
are  strung  up  by  one  leg,  and  secured  to  a  traveling  pulley  on  an  overhead 
rail.  At  2  the  animal  is  instantly  killed  by  a  knife  thrust  that  reaches  the 
heart ;  at  3  he  is  dumped  into  a  vat  of  scalding  water,  kept  hot  by  steam 
pipes,  where  the  hair  is  loosened  (see  detail  view  Fig.  171).  A  series  of  os- 
cillating curved  arms,  shaped  like  a  horse  hay-rake,  dips  the  carcass  out  of 
the  scalding  vat  and  deposits  it  upon  the  table  4  (Fig.  170),  where  it  is 
attached  to  an  endless  cable  that  drags  it  through  a  scraping  machine  at  5. 
This  takes  off  the  hair,  as  shown  in  detail  view  Fig.  172.  At  6  (Fig.  170) 
the  remnants  df  hair  are  removed  by  hand,  and  at  7  the  skin  is  washed 
clean.  At  8  the  carcass  is  inspected,  and  the  throat  cut  across ;  at  9  the  en- 
trails are  removed;  at  10  the  leaf  lard  is  taken  out;  at  n  the  heads  are 
severed  and  tongues  removed;  at  12  the  carcass  is  split  into  halves,  and  at 
13  the  sections  are  ready  to  be  run  into  the  cooling  room. 

From  10  to  15  minutes  only  are  required  to  convert  the  living  animal 
into  dressed  pork.  Every  part  of  the  animal  is  utilized.  The  lungs,  heart, 
liver  and  trimmings  go  to  the  sausage  department.  The  feet  are  pickled  or 


THE   PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 


IN    THE   NINETEENTH    CENTURY. 


239 


converted  into  glue.  The  intestines  are  stripped  and  cleaned  for  sausage 
casings.  The  soft  parts  of  the  head  are  made  into  so-called  cheese,  and 
the  fat  is  rendered  into  lard.  The  finer  quality  of  bristles  goes  to  the  brush- 
makers,  and  the  balance  is  used  by  upholsterers  for  mixing  with  horse 
hair.  The  blood  is  largely  used  for  making  albumen  for  photographic 
uses,  as  well  as  in  sugar  refining,  for  meat  extracts,  and  for  fertilizers. 
The  bones  are  ground  for  fertilizer,  and  even  the  tank  waters  are  concen- 
trated and  used  for  the  same  purpose. 

Oleomargarine. — About  1868  M.  Mege,  a  French  chemist,  commis- 
sioned by  his  government  to  investigate  certain  questions  of  domestic 
economy,  was  led  into  the  study  of  beef  fat,  and  to  make  comparisons  of 
the  same  with  butter.  He  found  that  when  cows  were  deprived  of  food 
containing  fat  they  still  continued  to  give  milk  yielding  cream  or  fatty 


FIG.  171. — SCALDING   TO  LOOSEN   THE   HAIR. 

products.  He  therefore  concluded  that  the  stored-up  fat  in  the  animal 
was  then  converted  into  cream,  and  that  it  was  practicable,  therefore,  to 
convert  beef  fat  into  butter  fat.  Physiology  taught  that  in  the  living  ani- 
mal the  change  was  wrought  through  the  withdrawal  of  the  larger  part 
of  the  stearine  by  respiratory  combustion,  while  the  oleomargarine  was 
secreted  by  the  milk  glands,  and  its  conversion  into  butyric  oleomargarine 
effected  in  the  udder  under  the  influence  of  the  mammary  pepsin.  In  the 
process  of  making  butter  by  the  ordinary  method  of  churning  the  cream, 


240 


THE   PROGRESS   OF   INVENTION 


the  finely  divided  butter  fat  globules  are  united  into  masses,  containing  by 
mechanical  admixture  from  12  to  14  per  cent,  of  water  or  buttermilk  carry- 
a  fractional  per  cent,  of  cheese.  This  buttermilk  contributes  somewhat  to 
the  flavor,  but  at  the  same  time  furnishes  a  ferment  which  ultimately  spoils 
the  butter  by  making  it  rancid.  It  is  a  purely  accidental  ingredient,  and 
one  not  at  all  desirable.  To  some  extent  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  sol- 
uble fats  which  give  to  the  butter  its  variable  though  characteristic  flavor. 
They  are  unstable  compounds,  decomposing  readily,  and  furnish  the  acrid 
products  which  make  "strong"  butter.  M.  Mege  sought  to  imitate  the  nat- 
ural process  of  butter-making,  which  was  first  to  separate  from  the  oily 
fat  of  suet  the  cellular  tissue  and  excess  of  stearine  or  hard  fat ;  second,  to 
add  to  the  oil  a  sufficient  proportion  of  butyric  compounds  to  give  the 
necessary  flavor,  and  third,  to  consolidate  the  butter  fat  without  grain,  and 
to  add  at  the  same  time  the  requisite  proportion  of  water,  salt,  and  color- 


FIG.    172.— SCRAPING  OFF  THE   HAIR  BY    MACHINERY. 


ing  matter,  to  make  a  compound  substantially  the  same  in  composition,  fla- 
vor, and  appearance,  as  butter  churned  from  the  cream,  and  all  this  with- 
out adding  to  the  original  fat  any  thing  dietetically  objectionable,  and  with- 
out submitting  it  to  any  process  capable  of  impairing  its  wholesome  quality. 
These  objects  were  fairly  obtained  in  the  product  known  as  oleomargarine, 
the  United  States  patent  for  which  was  granted  to  Mege  Dec.  30,  1873,  No. 
146,012. 

The  process  in  brief  is  to  take  fresh  beef  fat,  which  is  first  chopped  up 


IN    THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY.  241 

and  thorougnly  washed.  It  is  then  placed  in  melting  tanks  at  a  tempera- 
ture of  122°  to  124°  F,  and  the  clear  yellow  oil  is  drawn  off  and  allowed  to 
stand  until  it  granulates.  The  fat  is  then  packed  in  cloths  set  in  moulds 
and  a  slowly  increasing  pressure  squeezes  out  the  pure  amber  colored  oil, 
leaving  the  stearine  behind.  This  sweet  and  pure  yellow  oil  is  then 
churned  with  milk  for  20  minutes  until  the  oil  is  completely  broken  up,  and 
a  small  quantity  of  annato,  a  vegetable  coloring  matter,  is  added  to  give  a 
yellow  color.  The  product  is  then  cooled  in  ice,  and  after  a  second  churn- 
ing with  milk  it  is  salted  and  finished  like  butter.  Chemical  analysis  shows 
oleomargarine  to  have  substantially  the  same  constituents  and  in  almost 
the  identical  proportions  of  pure  butter.  It  is  equally  wholesome,  and 
while  it  does  not  have  the  same  rich  flavor,  it  has  the  advantage  that  it 
keeps  better,  and  is  not  so  liable  to  become  rancid  or  strong.  The  oleomar- 
garine industry  is  closely  related  to  the  beef  packing  industries  of  the 
United  States,  and  its  growth  has  been  enormous.  Notwithstanding  the 
stringent  laws  on  the  subject,  much  of  the  oleomargarine  made  is  sold  for, 
and  by  the  average  purchaser  is  not  distinguishable  from,  pure  butter.  In 
1899  there  were  80,495,628  pounds  of  oleomargarine  made  in  the  United 
States,  or  more  than  a  pound  for  every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  the 
country.  The  internal  revenue  tax  paid  on  it  was  $1,609,912.56.  The  ex- 
ports for  the  year  1899  were  5,549,322  pounds  of  the  artificial  butter,  and 
142,390,492  pounds  of  the  oleo  oil  prepared  for  conversion  into  the  com- 
plete product  by  simply  churning  with  milk. 

Sugar. — Sugar-cane,  beets,  and  the  sap  of  the  maple  constitute  the 
sources  from  which  sugar  is  extracted,  but  the  cane  furnishes  by  far  the 
largest  supply.  When  crushed  between  rolls  it  yields  65  per  cent,  of  its 
weight  as  juice,  and  18  per  cent,  of  this  juice  is  sugar.  It  is  concen- 
trated by  evaporation  at  a  low  temperature,  the  crystallized  portion  being 
known  as  "raw"  or  brown  sugar,  which  is  subsequently  refined,  while  the 
uncrystallized  portion  forms  molasses. 

In  the  process  of  refining,  2  or  3  parts  of  raw  sugar,  with  one  of  water 
containing  a  little  lime,  ground  bone  black,  and  the  serum  of  bullocks' 
blood,  is  heated  by  the  passage  of  steam  through  it.  The  albumen  of  the 
serum  coagulates  and  rises  to  the  surface  in  a  scum  which  entangles  the  im- 
purities and  bone  black,  leaving  the  syrup  light  in  color.  The  latter  is  then 
filtered  through  bone  black  until  it  is  colorless  and  is  then  evaporated  in  the 
vacuum  pan,  which  is  the  important  invention  of  the  century  in  sugar 
making.  Heat  has  the  effect  of  converting  the  crystallized  sugar  into  the 
uncrystallized  variety,  and  hence  the  evaporation  must,  to  prevent  this,  be 
conducted  at  a  low  temperature.  Contact  with  the  air  is  also  objectionable. 


242  THE  PROGRESS   OF   INVENTION 

These  conditions  are  provided  for  by  conducting  the  evaporation  in  a 
vacuum,  which  lowers  the  evaporating  temperature  and  avoids  contact  with 
the  air.  The  vacuum  pan  was  the  invention  of  Howard,  an  Englishman. 
(British  Pat.  No.  3,754,  of  1813).  As  constructed  to-day  it  is  an  enormous 
vessel  (see  Fig.  173),  capable  of  holding  7,000  or  more  gallons,  and  yield- 


FIG.    173. — VACUUM    PAN    FOR   EVAPORATING   THE    SYRUP   TO    PRODUCE   SUGAR. 

ing  250  barrels  of  sugar  at  a  strike.  In  this  a  vacuum  is  maintained  by  a 
condenser,  the  vapors  passing  from  the  pan  to  the  condenser  through  the 
great  curved  pipe  rising  from  the  top,  which  pipe  is  five  feet  in  diameter. 
A  gentle  heat  is  applied  through  internal  steam-heated  coils  which  connect 


IN    THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY.  243 

with  an  external  series  of  steam  inlet  pipes  on  one  side,  and  a  correspond- 
ing series  of  steam  outlet  pipes  on  the  other.  A  large  discharge  valve  for 
the  concentrated  syrup  closes  the  bottom  of  the  pan.  After  concentration 
the  crystallized  sugar  is  separated  from  the  syrup  by  a  centrifugal  filter,  in 
which  the  liquid  is  thrown  from  the  crystallized  sugar  by  centrifugal  ac- 
tion. The  first  centrifugal  filter  is  shown  in  British  patent  to  Joshua  Bates, 
No.  6,068,  of  1831.  This,  however,  revolved  about  a  horizontal  'axis. 
The  present  form  of  centrifugal  filter  is  a  cylinder  revolving  about  a  ver- 
tical axis,  the  sides  of  the  cylinder  being  formed  of  filtering  medium, 
through  which  the  liquid  is  thrown  by  centrifugal  action,  while  the  sugar 
is  retained  within.  This  was  the  invention  of  Joseph  Hurd,  of  Mass.,  U.  S. 
Pat.  No.  3,7/2,  Oct.  3,  1844;  re-issue  No.  607,  Sept.  29,  1858,  which 
patent  was  extended  for  seven  years,  from  Oct.  3,  1858.  The  diffusion 
process,  which  extracts  the  juice  by  cutting  the  cane  in  slices  and  soaking 
in  water ;  the  bagasse  furnace,  which  dries  and  burns  the  expressed  cane 
stalks  as  fuel,  and  the  manufacture  of  glucose  and  grape  sugar  by  the  re- 
action of  sulphuric  acid  on  starch,  are  interesting  allied  features  of  this 
industry  which  can  only  be  briefly  mentioned.  Most  of  the  sugar  consumed 
in  the  United  States  is  imported,  much  raw  sugar  being  imported  and  re- 
fined here.  The  imports  for  the  year  1899  were  3,980,250,569  pounds,  and 
the  per  capita  consumption  in  1898  was  61.1  pounds  a  year. 

Aids  to  Digestion. — It  is  only  during  the  last  part  of  the  Nineteenth 
Century  that  the  world  has  learned  how  to  live.  "What  is  one  man's  food 
is  another  man's  poison"  has  been  a  trite  old  saying  for  many  years,  but 
the  reason  why  has  only  in  late  years  been  fully  understood.  The  physiol- 
ogy of  digestion,  the  relative  digestibility  of  different  articles  of  food,  and 
their  nutritive  values,  have  received  of  late  years  the  earnest  attention  of 
physicians  and  students  of  dietetics  and  have  contributed  much  to  the  qual- 
ity and  kind  of  food,  and  a  knowledge  of  when  and  how  to  eat  it.  We  know 
that  the  starchy  foods  are  digested  by  the  saliva,  which  is  an  alkaline  diges- 
tion ;  that  meat,  fish,  eggs,  cheese  and  the  albumenoids  are  digested  in  the 
stomach  by  the  gastric  juices  (pepsin  and  hydrochloric  acid)  which  is  an 
acid  digestion,  and  that  the  remaining  portions  of  starch,  the  sugars,  and 
fats  are  digested  in  the  intestines,  and  that  this  is  also  an  alkaline  diges- 
tion, and  this  has  helped  to  solve  the  problem  for  us.  We  also  know  that 
starch  is  an  excellent  food,  provided  the  vital  powers  are  sufficiently  stimu- 
lated by  fresh  air,  sunlight,  and  exercise  to  digest  it,  as  do  the  horse  and 
the  ox  when  they  eat  corn,  but  we  know  furthermore  that  the  sedentary 
occupations  of  modern  life  leave  many  stomachs  in  a  condition  unable  to 
assimilate  starch,  and  so  bread,  oatmeal,  potatoes  and  such  simple  staples, 


244  THE  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 

instead  of  nourishing  the  body,  ferment  in  the  enfeebled  stomach,  produce 
acids  and  gas,  and  lay  the  foundation  for  serious  chronic  diseases.  The 
student  of  chemistry  and  dietetics  knows  to-day  that  one  part  of  diastase 
will  effect  the  conversion  of  2,000  parts  of  starch  into  grape  sugar,  as  a 
preliminary  step  to  its  digestion,  and  so  by  treating  starchy  matter 
with  substances  containing  diastase  (derived  from  malt)  a  partial  trans- 
formation is  effected  which  will  materially  shorten  and  assist  its  digestion. 
This  fact  has  been  largely  made  use  of  in  the  preparation  of  easily  soluble 
or  pre-digested  foods,  examples  of  which  are  found  in  patent  to  Horlick 
(malted  milk),  No.  278,967,  June  5,  1883;  to  Carnrick  (milk-wheat  food), 
Dec.  27,  1887,  No.  375,601 ;  and  Boynton  and  Van  Patten  (cereals  and 
diastase),  344,717,  June  29,  1886. 

Beverages. — Pure  water,  nature's  own  gift,  has  ever  supplied  every  le- 
gitimate need  of  the  human  race,  but  civilized  life  has  greatly  extended  its 
list  of  drinks,  much  to  its  own  detriment.  Soda  water,  whiskey,  beer,  gin- 
ger ale,  tea,  coffee,  and  chocolate  represent  enormous  industries,  and  prob- 
ably all  do  more  harm  than  they  do  good.  Much  inventive  genius  in  the 
Nineteenth  Century  has  been  bestowed  upon  the  soda  water  fountain,  on 
stills,  and  processes  for  aging  liquors  and  processes  for  brewing  beer,  on 
cider  and  wine  presses,  on  bottling  machines  and  bottle  stoppers,  on  devices 
for  carbonating  waters,  and  in  coffee  and  teapots.  The  trend  of  the  times 
is  shown  in  the  following  figures,  which  represent  the  per  capita  consump- 
tion of  beverages  in  the  United  States  for  1898 :  tea,  .91  of  a  pound ;  coffee, 
11.45  pounds;  wines,  .28  of  a  gallon;  distilled  spirits,  i.io  gallons;  and 
malt  liquors  15.64  gallons.  The  largest  per  capita  increase  since  1870  has 
been  in  malt  liquors,  and  the  next  in  coffee.  In  tea  and  distilled  spirits 
there  has  been  a  decrease,  while  the  consumption  of  wines  is  the  smallest  of 
all  and  has  varied  but  little. 


IN    THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY.  245 


CHAPTER  XX. 
MEDICINE,  SURGERY,  SANITATION. 

DISCOVERY  OF  CIRCULATION  OF  THE  BLOOD  BY  HARVEY — VACCINATION  BY  JENNER — USE 
OF  ANAESTHETICS  THE  GREAT  STEP  OF  MEDICAL  PROGRESS  OF  THE  CENTURY — MA- 
TERIA  MEDICA — INSTRUMENTS — SCHOOLS  OF  MEDICINE — DENTISTRY — ARTIFICIAL 
LIMBS — DIGESTION — BACTERIOLOGY,  AND  DISEASE  GERMS — ANTISEPTIC  SURGERY — 
HOUSE  SANITATION. 

IN  the  early  gropings  through  the  uncertain  light  of  first  progress,  man 
was  accustomed  to  ascribe  the  ills  of  his  flesh  to  the  anger  of  the 
gods,  and  in  his  craven  and  abject  superstition  made  peace  offerings. 
Later  he  learned  to  locate  the  cause  within  himself,  and  constructed 
the  theory  that  the  fluids  of  the  body  had  become  disordered.  The  charac- 
teristic feature  of  progress  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  in  this  field,  has 
been  in  the  accurate  tracing  of  the  relation  of  cause  and  effect,  and  with  the 
discovery  of  true  causes  has  grown  efficient  means  of  treatment.  The  old 
expedients  of  charms,  incantations,  conjuration  and  exorcism  gave  place 
first  to  intelligent  medication,  and  this  in  turn  is  rapidly  giving  way  to  the 
prevention  of  disease  by  improved  conditions  of  sanitation  and  right  living. 
The  ounce  of  prevention  has  been  found  to  be  worth  more  than  the  pound 
of  cure.  With  the  improved  knowledge  of  physiology,  anatomy,  chemistry 
and  biology,  which  the  century  has  brought,  the  intelligent  physician  was 
able  to  make  a  logical  and  for  the  most  part  a  correct  diagnosis,  but  sup- 
plemented with  the  microscope,  that  great  revealer  of  the  unseen  world 
of  small  things,  corporeal  existence  itself  becomes  an  open  book,  and  from 
the  principles  of  organic  evolution  to  the  germ  theory  of  disease  the  mys- 
tery of  life  and  death  is  being  slowly  revealed. 

When  the  Eighteenth  Century  gave  birth  to  the  Nineteenth,  its  great 
natal  gift  in  medicine  was  vaccination.  Jenner  in  1798  for  the  first  time 
announced  his  discovery  of  this  great  boon  to  the  human  race.  In  1799 
Dr.  Benjamin  Waterhouse,  in  Boston,  obtained  virus  from  Jenner 
and  vaccinated  four  of  his  children,  and  in  1801  Dr.  Valentine  Seaman  ob- 
tained virus  from  Dr.  Waterhouse  and  performed  the  first  vaccination  in 
New  York.  During  the  Seventeenth  and  Eighteenth  Centuries  the  annual 
death  rate  from  smallpox  in  London  ranged  from  2  to  4  per  1,000  of  popu- 
lation. In  1892  it  was  only  0.073  Per  l>°°°- 


246  THE   PROGRESS   OF   INVENTION 

It  is  also  stated  on  good  authority  that  the  mortality  from  smallpox 
in  England  alone,  was  20,000  a  year  less  after  the  introduction  of  vaccina- 
tion than  it  was  in  the  preceding  century,  and  that  its  benefits  to  the  world 
at  large  have  been  so  great  that  the  lancet  of  Jenner  has  saved  more  lives 
than  were  sacrificed  by  the  sword  of  Napoleon. 

Each  century  in  modern  history  has  been  marked  by  some  important 
discovery  in  the  field  of  medicine.  The  Seventeenth  Century  was  notable 
for  the  discovery  of  the  circulation  of  the  blood  by  Harvey ;  the  Eighteenth 
Century  brought  with  it  vaccination  by  Jenner.  The  Nineteenth  Century's 
greatest  gift  in  this  field  has  been  anaesthesia,  or  insensibility  to  pain.  Na- 
ture has  wisely  endowed  man  with  nerves  of  sensation  as  danger  signals 
for  the  conservation  of  life.  Accident  and  disease,  however,  are  the  in- 
separable concomitants  of  human  existence,  and  suffering  and  pain  the  in- 
effaceable legacies  of  mortality.  Sometimes  these  nerves  of  sensation  are 
no  longer  useful  as  monitors,  and  in  the  unavoidable  emergency  of  acci- 
dent, surgical  operations,  child  birth,  and  certain  diseases,  suffering  can 
do  no  good,  and  then  pain — that  Prince  of  Terrors — thrusting  his  presence 
upon  the  hapless  victim,  racks  body  and  limb,  calling  forth  groans,  and 
shrieks  and  writhings,  till  the  poor  sufferer,  possessed  with  a  dominating 
agony  which  displaces  all  thought  of  life,  memory  of  friends,  and  love  of 
God,  breaks  down  in  unutterable  distress,  and  prays  for  death  and  obliv- 
ion. To  this  poor  sufferer  insensibility  is  next  to  heaven.  For  the  past 
half  century  all  the  formidable  operations  of  the  surgeon  have  been  per- 
formed with  the  aid  of  anaesthetics  and  without  suffering  to  the  patient, 
producing  happy  recoveries,  and  greatly  contributing  to  the  success  of  the 
result  by  relieving  the  surgeon  of  the  distraction  of  the  patient's  pain,  and 
the  interference  of  his  involuntary  movements.  Quite  a  number  of  anaes- 
thetics are  known  and  used  to-day.  Those  more  generally  employed  are — 
naming  them  in  the  order  of  their  first  application — nitrous  oxide  gas, 
ether,  and  chloroform.  Nitrous  oxide  gas  is  chiefly  used  for  the  extraction 
of  teeth.  Sir  Humphrey  Davy,  in  1800,  was  the  first  to  observe  the  pe- 
culiar quality  of  nitrous  oxide  gas,  which  gave  it  the  name  of  "laughing 
gas,"  from  the  fact  that  it  caused  those  inhaling  it  to  act  in  a  manner  ex- 
hibiting an  abnormal  exhilaration.  Dr.  Horace  Wells,  a  dentist  of  Hart- 
ford, Conn.,  in  1844,  had  the  gas  administered,  experimentally,  to  him- 
self during  the  operation  of  extracting  a  tooth,  and  was  the  discoverer  of 
its  useful  application  as  an  anaesthetic. 

The  greatest  discovery,  however,  in  anaesthetics  is  the  application  of 
ether  for  this  purpose.  Ether  as  a  chemical  product  has  been  known  for 
several  centuries,  and  as  early  as  1818  Faraday  pointed  out  the  similarity 


IN    THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY.  247 

between  the  effects  of  ether  and  nitrous  oxide  gas.  Dr.  Morton,  a  dentist, 
of  Boston,  first  applied  it  as  an  anaesthetic  Oct.  16,  1846,  being  guided 
largely  in  its  selection  and  use  by  Dr.  Jackson,  an  eminent  chemist  of  the 
same  city.  On  Nov.  12,  1846,  U.  S.  Pat.  No.  4,848  was  issued  to  them  for 
this  invention.  In  the  latter  part  of  December  of  the  same  year  Dr.  Lis- 
ton,  an  eminent  English  surgeon,  performed  the  operation  of  amputating 
the  thigh  while  the  patient  was  under  the  influence  of  ether. 

Chloroform,  discovered  by  Guthrie  in  1831,  was  first  applied  as  an  an- 
aesthetic by  Sir  James  Y.  Simpson,  of  Edinburgh,  in  1847.  Of  the  two  lead- 
ing anaesthetics,  ether  is  more  generally  used  in  the  United  Sates  and  chlo- 
roform in  Europe.  Ether  is  less  dangerous,  but  its  administration  is  more 
difficult  and  disagreeable.  It  is  said  on  the  highest  authority  that  in  the 
Crimean  War  chloroform  was  administered  25,000  times  without  a  single 
death,  and  ether  is  even  safer  than  chloroform.  In  the  hands  of  a  skillful 
physician  practically  no  danger  is  to  be|  apprehended  from  the  use  of 
either  of  the  two  agents.  A  little  over  fifty  years  ago  any  severe  or  pro- 
longed surgical  operation  involved  such  irresistable  pain  that  the  patient's 
writhings  were  required  to  be  restrained  by  powerful  muscular  assistants, 
and  by  straps  which  bound  the  patient  to  the  table,  and  when  it  is  remem- 
bered that  a  false  cut  of  a  hundredth  part  of  an  inch  might  be  fatal,  the 
haste,  the  disquieting  influence  upon  the  surgeon,  and  the  interference  with 
the  accuracy  of  his  hand,  added  greatly  to  the  percentage  of  unsuccessful 
operations,  as  well  as  to  the  prolonged  agony  of  the  patient.  Contrast  this 
with  the  present  methods  of  using  anaesthetics,  and  we  find  the  patient 
dropping  into  a  quiet  and  peaceful  sleep  before  the  operation,  and  awaken- 
ing thereafter  to  find,  to  his  astonishment,  that  it  is  all  over,  and  that  re- 
covery is  only  a  question  of  careful  nursing. 

Matcria  Medica. — Many  important  contributions  have  been  made  to  the 
pharmacopoeia  in  the  century.  In  1807  the  remedy  known  as  ergot  was 
brought  to  the  notice  of  the  profession  by  Dr.  Stearns,  and  named  by  him 
pulvis  parturiens.  Iodine  was  first  used  as  a  medicine  in  1819  by  Dr. 
Coindet,  Sr.,  of  Geneva.  Quinine  was  discovered  by  Pelletier  and  Caventou 
in  1820,  although  Peruvian  bark  had  long  been  used  for  the  same  purpose. 
Chloral  hydrate,  discovered  by  Liebig  in  1832,  was  applied  in  medicine  in 
1869  by  Dr.  Liebreich,  of  Berlin.  Carbolic  acid  was  discovered  in  1834  by 
Runge.  Artificial  seidlitz  powders  were  first  put  up  under  Savory's  British 
Pat.  No.  3,954,  of  1815.  Veratrum  viride,  lobelia,  worm  seed,  and  chloro- 
form were  all  introduced  in  the  first  part  of  the  century.  The  sulphates 
of  morphia,  strychnia,  atropia  and  other  alkaloids  are  of  comparatively  re- 
cent addition  to  the  pharmacopoeia,  and  the  iodide  of  potash,  tincture  of 


248  THE  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 

iron,  digitalis,  bichloride  of  mercury,  sub-nitrate  of  bismuth,  boracic  acid 
and  gallic  acid,  chlorate  of  potash  and  Dover's  powders  have  become  stand- 
ard remedies  within  a  hundred  years.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  century  the 
new  remedies  derived  from  coal  tar  have  occupied  an  important  place.  Of 
these  may  be  mentioned  antipyrine,  by  Knorr  (pat.  Oct.  28,  1884), 
phenacetin,  by  Hinsberg  (pat.  March  26,  1889),  salol,  by  Von  Nencki(  pat. 
Sept.  28,  1886),  sulfonal,  by  Bauman  (patented  Jan.  22,  1889),  antikamnia 
(acetanalide),  and  many  others,  besides  new  and  valuable  antiseptic  com- 
pounds, such  as  salicylic  acid  and  formalin.  A  characteristic  feature  of 


FIG.    174. — THE  OPHTHALMOMETER. 


the  modern  practice  of  medicine  is  in  improved  forms  of  its  administration. 
Sugar-coated  pills,  gelatine  capsules  and  cod  liver  oil  emulsions  make  the 
remedy  much  less  disagreeable  to  take,  and  very  ingenious  and  effective 
machines  have  been  devised  for  putting  up  remedies  in  such  forms. 


IN    THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY. 


249 


Instruments. — Laennec's  discovery  in  1819  of  auscultation,  and  the 
stethoscope,  for  determining  internal  conditions  by  sound,  was  a  great  step 
in  diagnosing  diseases.  The  binaural  stethoscope  was  invented  by  Cam- 
mann  in  1854,  and  a  later  improvement  is  the  phonendoscope,  by  Bianchi, 
The  opthalmoscope  is  an  instrument  for  inspecting  the  interior  of  the  eye, 
which  was  invented  by  Prof.  Helmholtz,  and  described  by  him  in  1851. 
The  laryngoscope,  for  obtaining  a  view  of  the  larynx,  was  said  to  have  been 
constructed  by  Mr.  John  Avery,  of  London,  as  early  as  1846.  The  opthal- 
mometer,  Fig.  174,  is  a  comparatively  recent  invention.  It  is  designed  to 
ascertain  variations  in  corneal  curvature  for  the  correction  of  corneal  astig- 
matism. Electric  lights  with  reflectors  are  arranged  on  each  side  of  the 
patient's  head,  while  the  operator  looks  into  the  eye  with  a  telescope.  The 
sphygmograph,  a  little  instrument  to  be  strapped  on  to  the  wrist  to 
record  the  action  of  the  pulse,  was  first  reduced  to  a  practically  useful 
form  by  Marey  in  1860.  A  later  development  of  these  devices,  by  Verdin, 
kro'wn  as  the  sphygmometrograph,  is  shown  in  Fig.  175.  The  endoscope, 
for  looking  into  the 
urethra,  and  the  cys- 
toscope,  for  looking 
into  the  bladder,  are 
other  useful  instru- 
ments of  the  modern 
practitioner.  Greater 
than  them  all,  how- 
ever, is  the  modern 
X-ray  apparatus,  for 
locating  foreign  sub- 
stances in  the  body 
and  making  visible 
the  bones  through  the 
flesh,  for  which  see 
special  chapter.  The 

use  of  the  thermometer  in  recording  the  progress  of  fevers  is  also  a 
valuable  modern  application,  and  the  list  of  instruments  and  small  tools 
is  beyond  enumeration.  There  are  series  of  obstetrical  appliances,  instru- 
ments relating  to  bone  surgery,  to  the  taking  up  of  arteries,  cupping  instru- 
ments, trepanning  instruments,  speculums,  hypodermic  syringes,  electric 
cauteries,  fracture  appliances,  instruments  for  lithotrity,  bandages  for  vari- 
cose veins,  atomizers,  breast  pumps,  inhalers,  nasal1  douches,  trusses, 
pessaries,  catheters,  abdominal  supporters,  and  an  endless  variety  of  pro- 


ne.   175.— VERDIN  S    SPHYGMOMETROGRAPH,    FOR   RECORDING 
THE   ACTION    OF   THE    PULSE. 


250  THE  PROGRESS   OF   INVENTION 

prietary  articles,  such  as  electric  baths  and  belts,  plasters,  chest  protectors, 
liver  pads,  and  so  forth,  all  of  which  are  practically  the  products  of  the 
Nineteenth  Century.  The  surgeon  of  to-day  can  straighten  the  eyes  of  a 
cross-eyed  man,  or  take  the  bow  out  of  his  bandy  legs,  can  make  him  a 
new  nose  of  his  own  flesh,  patch  his  skull  with  a  silver  plate,  remove  the 
stone  from  his  bladder,  supply  him  with  a  wind-pipe,  wash  out  his  stomach, 
and  perform  many  other  operations  even  more  difficult.  Among  such 
more  important  operations  may  be  mentioned  ovariotomy,  which  was  first 
performed  by  Dr.  Ephraim  McDowell,  of  Danville,  Kentucky,  in  1809,  and 
the  tying  of  the  great  arteries.  The  operation  of  lithotrity,  for  removing 
stone  from  the  bladder  by  crushing  the  stone,  was  introduced  by  Civiale, 
1817-1824,  who  devised  successful  instruments  and  modes  of  using  them. 
In  1836  to  1840  Richard  Bright,  an  English  physician,  made  important  re- 
searches and  discoveries  in  relation  to  the  functions  and  diseases  of  the 
kidneys,  and  established  the  nature  of  the  so-called  "Bright's  disease." 

Schools  of  Medicine. — While  the  regular  school  of  medicine  (called  by 
some  "Allopathy")  has  held  the  leading  place  in  medicine,  various  other 
schools  have  sprung  up  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  all  of  which  represent 
advances  in  a  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  health,  and  the  modes  of  prevent- 
ing and  curing  diseases.  Hahnemann,  in  his  "Organon  der  Rationallen 
Heilkunde,"  in  1810,  gave  homoeopathy  its  name,  and  reduced  it  to  a  sys- 
tem. The  doctrine  of  simUia  similibus  cnrantur  (like  cures  like),  has 
gained  great  popularity  in  the  latter  part  of  the  century.  Hydropathy,  as 
a  school,  also  made  its  appearance  in  the  early  part  of  the  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury. Priessnitz  was  its  first  disciple,  and  the  Grafenberg  cure,  established 
in  1826,  was  a  noted  institution  for  many  years.  The  useful  application 
of  water  in  the  form  of  baths  and  cold  packs,  has  been  known  for  cen- 
turies, and  will  always  be  used  as  a  valuable  agency  in  sickness  and  in 
health.  The  "Thompsonian"  system  of  treating  diseases  was  covered  by 
patents  in  1813,  1823  and  1836,  and  attained  considerable  notoriety  in  the 
early  half  of  the  century.  Sweating  by  hot  bricks  and  hot  tea  made  of 
"Composition  Powders,"  vomiting  with  lobelia  to  produce  relaxation,  and 
A  fiery  liquid  for  cramps,  called  "No.  6,"  were  the  chief  remedies,  and 
very  few  boys  who  had  once  taken  the  treatment  were  ever  willing  after- 
wards to  admit  that  they  were  sick.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  Nineteenth 
Century  electro-therapeutics  has  received  a  large  share  of  attention,  many 
forms  of  medical  batteries  have  been  devised,  and  probably  no  more  prom- 
ising field  of  study  and  research  exists  in  the  whole  domain  of  medicine. 

Dentistry. — George  Washington  had  false  teeth,  and  it  is  said  that 
the  teeth  of  some  of  the  mummies  of  Egypt  had  gold  fillings,  but  it  re- 


IN    THE    NINETEENTH   CENTURY.  251 

mained  for  the  Nineteenth  Century  to  establish  dentistry  as  an  art,  and  its 
influence  in  securing  better  mastication  and  digestion  of  food,  more  san- 
itary mouths  and  shapely  faces,  cannot  be  estimated.  Few  people  can  be 
found  to-day  who  have  not  either  filled  teeth,  bridge  work,  gold  caps,  or 
artificial  sets  of  teeth.  The  most  important  advance  in  the  art  was  in  the 
invention  of  the  rubber  plate  for  holding  the  porcelain  teeth.  This  was  the 
invention  of  J.  A.  Cummings,  and  was  covered  by  him  in  his  patent  No. 
43,009,  June  7,  1864.  In  more  recent  years  "bridge-work"  represents  the 
most  important  advance.  In  this  practice  one  or  more  artificial  teeth  are 
firmly  held  in  the  place  of  missing  teeth  by  a  strong  bridge-piece  of  metal, 
which  at  its  ends  is  anchored  to  the  adjacent  natural  teeth.  This  was  first 
done  by  Bing  (British  Pat.  No.  167,  of  1871),  and  was  afterwards  pat- 
ented in  somewhat  different  form  in  the  United  States  by  J.  E.  Lowe,  No. 
238,940,  March  15,  1881,  No.  313,434,  March  3,  1885,  and  Richmond, 
May  22,  1883,  No.  277,933.  Porcelain  and  gold  crowns  and  dental  plug- 
gers  run  by  electricity  represent  other  important  advances  in  this  art.  It 
is  said  that  there  are  20,425  dentists  in  the  United  States,  and  that  in  1899 
they  employed  in  their  practice  20,499,000  false  teeth. 

Artificial  Limbs. — With  the  successful  work  of  the  surgeon  came  the 
effort  to  repair,  as  far  as  possible,  the  loss  of  the  limb.  Until  about  the 
middle  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  the  survivor  of  an  operation  was  an  un- 
symmetrical,  unique,  and  pitiful  object.  The  peg-leg  of  Peter  Stuyvesant 
lives  in  history,  and  the  arm-hook  of  Capt.  Cuttle  is  familiar  to  every 
reader.  The  first  United  States  patent  for  an  artificial  leg  was  granted 
to  B.  F.  Palmer,  Nov.  4,  1846,  No.  4,834.  Wooden  legs  with  a  restricted 
back  and  forward  ankle  motion  and  a  spring,  were  constructed  by  A.  A. 
Marks  from  1853  to  1863.  On  Dec.  i.  1863,  a  patent,  No.  40.763,  was 
granted  to  Mr.  Marks  for  the  use  of  sponge  rubber  for  constructing  artifi- 
cial feet  and  hands  that  dispensed  with  the  articulated  joints,  and  made  a 
great  improvement.  In  patent  No.  366,494,  July  12,  1887,  to  G.  E.  Marks, 
the  foot  and  leg  portion  of  a  wooden  leg  are  made  from  wood  which  grows 
with  a  crook,  as  at  the  root  of  a  tree,  where  the  strength  and  lightness  of 
a  continuous  natural  grain  is  obtained  at  the  instep.  About  300  patents 
have  been  granted  for  artificial  legs  and  arms.  Modern  improvements 
have  extended  to  every  detail  of  construction,  and  so  perfect  to-day  is  the 
average  wooden  leg  that  it  is  hardly  to  be  detected.  Men  with  wooden 
legs  ride  horseback,  are  expert  users  of  the  bicycle,  and  have  even  per- 
formed feats  on  the  tight  rope.  The  inventor's  genius  has  not  stopped  at 
repairing  limbs,  however,  for  artificial  eyes,  artificial  ear  drums,  the  audi- 
phone,  foot  extensions  for  short  legs,  crutches,  braces,  abdominal  sup- 


252  THE   PROGRESS   OF   INVENTION 

porters,  and  various  other  applications  to  supplement  the  defects  of  the 
body  have  been  devised. 

Digestion. — The  physiology  of  digestion  had,  perhaps,  the  first  real 
light  shed  upon  it  by  Beaumont's  observations  from  1825  to  1832.  A 
Canadian  boatman,  Alexis  San  Martin,  was  wounded  in  the  abdomen  from 
a  charge  of  buckshot,  and  the  wound  healed,  leaving  a  permanent  opening 
in  the  stomach,  through  which  the  operation  of  digestion  could  be  ob- 
served. This  furnished  visible  evidence  of  the  relative  digestibility  of 
different  kinds  of  foods,  and  the  general  functions  of  the  stomach.  The 
peculiar  and  different  conditions  governing  the  digestion  of  the  starch 
foods,  the  albumenoids  (such  as  meat  and  fish),  and  the  sugars  and  fats, 
have  been  clearly  ascertained,  and  "what  is  one  man's  food  is  another 
man's  poison"  is  now  susceptible  of  intelligent  diagnosis  and  effective 
adjustment.  Of  late  years  the  stomach  has  been  greatly  aided  in  its  func- 
tions by  prepared  or  predigested  foods.  The  action  of  diastase,  in  con- 
verting starch  into  grape  sugar,  has  been  taken  advantage  of,  and  cereals 
treated  with  diatase,  malted  milk,  lactated  and  peptonized  foods,  have 
proven  a  boon  to  the  enfeebled  digestion,  while  the  intelligent  study  of  die- 
tetics has  done  much  to  relieve  the  physician  and  promote  the  health  of  the 
individual  by  right  living. 

Bacteriology. — Although  Leeuwenhoeck  discovered  the  bacterium,  in 
1668-1675,  up  to  100  years  ago  disease  and  death  were  largely  regarded 
as  dispensations  of  Providence,  and  with  fatuous  resignation  were  ac- 
cepted as  inevitable.  The  microscope  and  the  study  of  bacteriology,  how- 
ever, have  revealed  to  us  the  presence  of  minute  living  organisms  or  germs, 
which  are  everywhere  around  us,  infesting  the  air,  the  earth,  the  water, 
our  food,  our  bodies,  and  all  organic  matter  in  countless  millions.  These 
infinitely  small  beings  multiply  with  a  rapidity  and  fecundity  that  be- 
wilders the  imagination.  Their  method  of  multiplication  is  by  fissiparism 
— that  is  to  say,  each  splits  into  two  independent  beings  that  separate 
and  afterwards  lead  independent  lives.  It  is  said  that  there  is  one  species 
in  which  not  more  than  six  or  seven  minutes  are  required  for  the  division 
to  take  place.  A  single  individual  might  consequently  produce  more  than 
a  thousand  offspring  in  an  hour,  more  than  a  million  in  two  hours,  and 
in  three  hours  more  than  the  number  of  inhabitants  on  the  globe.  They 
are  known  as  micro-organisms,  of  which  the  bacteria  are  the  most  impor- 
tant. The  bacteria  are  further  divided  into  species,  and  names  are  given 
them  to  distinguish  the  different  forms.  The  little  rod-shaped  ones  are 
called  bacilli:  the  spheroidal  ones  micrococci  or  cocci.  If  they  cling  to- 
gether in  chains  they  are  called  streptococci;  if  of  a  spiral  or  corkscrew 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


253 


form  they  are  called  spirallae.  The  curved  bacilli  are  called  "comma" 
bactilli,  from  their  resemblance  to  the  punctuation  mark  of  that  name.  The 
presence  of  peculiar  forms  of  these  bacteria  in  diseases  has  so  suggested 
the  relation  of  cause  and  effect  as  to  have  given  rise  to  the  so-called  "germ 
theory"  of  disease.  Now  we  know  with  reasonable  certainty  that  cholera, 
diphtheria,  typhoid  fever,  whooping  cough,  mumps,  cerebro-spinal  men- 


FIG.    176. 
BACILLUS  OF  TUBERCULOSIS  IX  SPUTUM.  BACILLUS    OF    DIPHTHERIA     (  KLEBS-LOEFFLER) . 


BACILLUS   OF   TYPHOID   FEVER. 
(Photo-Micrographs,  1,000  diatn.,  by  William  M.  Gray,  M.  D.) 

ingitis,  pneumonia,  tuberculosis,  hydrophobia,  and  many  other  diseases 
have  each  its  specific  cause  in  the  form  of  a  microbe. 

Henle,  a  German  physiologist,  as  early  as  1840,  maintained  the  doctrine 
of  contagium  vivuni,  or  contagion  by  the  transmission  of  living  germs. 


254 


THE   PROGRESS   OF   INVENTION 


Certain  classes  of  diseases  have  also  long  been  known  as  zymotic,  or  fer- 
ment diseases.  Louis  Pasteur's  work,  however,  marks  the  first  definite 
and  important  results  in  the  study  of  bacteriology,  and  he  is  the  father  of 
the  "germ  theory"  of  disease.  He  exploded  the  previously  held  theories 
of  scientists  concerning  the  spontaneous  generation  of  living  things,  and 
clearly  established  and  promulgated  the  knowledge  of  disease  germs. 
Commencing  his  great  work  about  1865  with  the  investigation  of  the  silk 
worm  plague  in  France,  he  discovered  it  to  be  due  to  parasites,  and 
checked  it.  He  also  gave  great  attention  to  the  subject  of  fermentation, 
proving  it  to  be  caused  by  micro-organisms.  Taking  up  the  diseases  of  men 
and  animals,  he  gave  practical  value  to  the  truths  of  his  theory  in  the  treat- 
ment of  hydrophobia,  diphtheria,  and  other  diseases,  using  the  principle 


TERTIAN  FORM.  AESTIVO-AUTUMNAL  FORM. 

FIG.    177. — BLOOD   OF    MAN.     SHOWING  PARASITE  OF   MALARIA    (LAVERAN). 
(Photo-Micrographs,  1,000  diam.,  by  William  M.  Gray,  M.  D.) 

of  vaccination  to  destroy  or  render  innocuous  the  toxins  or  disease-pro- 
ducing poisons  derived  from  living  germs.  Working  along  the  same  lines 
must  be  mentioned  Dr.  Koch,  whose  success  in  detecting  the  microbes 
which  cause  consumption  and  cholera  has  made  him  famous  the  world 
over.  Of  the  great  variety  of  these  little  microbes  which  have  been  sepa- 
rately identified,  many  are  innocuous,  and,  in  fact,  subserve  many  impor- 
tant and  useful  purposes  in  nature,  while  others  are  to  be  as  much  dreaded 
as  the  deadly  cobra  or  the  rattlesnake.  A  few  typical  examples  of  the  latter 
are  given  in  Figs.  176  and  177,  multiplied  1,000  diameters.  The  illustra- 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


255 


tions  represented  in  Fig.  177  show  the  parasites  that  cause  malaria,  or 
fever  and  ague.  The  dark  bean-shaped  cells  are  the  normal  blood  cor- 
puscles, and  the  few  speckled  cells  are  those  infested  with  the  malarial 
parasites.  It  is  now  believed  that  the  mosquito  is  the  active  factor  in  the 
dissemination  of  malaria,  and  it  is,  therefore,  to  be  remembered  that  this 
pestiferous  little  insect  not  only  inflicts  a  painful  and  disagreeable  sensa- 
tion with  his  puncture,  but  innoculates  the  system  with  poisonous  malarial 
germs  at  the  same  time. 

For  the  study  of  bacteria  they  are  propagated  artificially  in  a  test  tube — 
i.  e.,  a  substance  called  a  "culture"'  is  prepared  from  some  organic  material 
which,  like  the  substances  of  the  human  body,  is  favorable  to  their  propa- 
gation. Such  culture  media  are  found  in  beef  blood,  gelatine,  beef  ex- 
tracts, meat  broth,  milk,  etc.  An 
ordinary  test-tube  is  supplied 
with  some  of  the  culture  medi- 
um, and  is  then  sterilized  over 
the  fire  to  destroy  all  interfering 
germs.  Material  infected  with 
the  microbe  is  then  placed  in  the 
test-tube  by  a  sterilized  platinum 
wire  and  the  tube  closed  by  raw 
cotton.  It  is  then  placed  in  an 
incubator  oven  and  is  subjected 
to  a  gentle  heat.  In  a  little  while 
the  microbes  begin  to  develop 
and  increase,  forming  colonies, 
in  which  they  swarrn  by  the  mil- 
lion, and  present  the  clotted  ap- 
pearance seen  in  Fig.  178.  The 
separation  of  different  bacteria 
existing  in  the  same  material,  so 
as  to  isolate  each  species  and  get 
what  is  called  a  "pure  culture," 

has    been    greatly    promoted    by  FIG- I?8t 

Prof     Knrh's    method     of    hlake       TUBE    CONTAINING       TUBE  CONTAINING 

I      Plate    CULTURE    OF     BACILLI     CULTURE  OF  COMMA  BA- 

cultitrc.     In  this  the  propagation  OF  TUBERCULOSIS.  CILLI  OF  CHOLERA. 

of   bacteria    is    effected    upon    a 

sterilized  glass  plate  under  a  bell  jar  in  such  a  thin  layer  as  to  facilitate  the 
segregation  of  species,  enabling  them  to  be  counted  under  the  microscope 
and  picked  out  and  sown  in  another  culture  to  get  an  unmixed  crop  of  a 


256 


THE   PROGRESS    OF   INVENTION 


definite  species.    Such  a  culture  so  multiplies  the  same  microbe,  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  others,  as  to  permit  it  to  be  easily  identified  and  studied. 

According  to  the  practice  in  modern  municipal  health  regulations,  the 
test  as  to  when  a  child  recovering  from  diphtheria  is  incapable  of  dissem- 
inating the  disease  is  by  test  culture.  A  swab  of  cotton  is  rubbed  against 
the  interior  walls  of  the  child's  throat  to  secure  the  germs  (if  present), 
and  the  swab  is  then  placed  in  a  "culture"  in  a  test-tube  and  the  tube  put 
in  an  incubator.  If,  after  the  period  of  incubation,  no  colonies  of  the  germs 
develop,  it  is  accepted  as  evidence  that  the  diphtheria  germs  are  no  longer 
present  in  the  throat,  and  the  child  is  released  from  quarantine. 

It  is  the  presence  of  these  specific  microbes  in  the  fluids  or  solids  of  the 
system  which  constitutes  the  disease,  and  for  the  cure  of  the  same  the 
intelligent  physician  of  to-day  looks  less  to  medication,  and  more  for  some 
agent  that  will  destroy  the  germ,  neutralize  its  effect,  or  render  the  body 
tolerant  thereto.  Out  of  the  knowledge  of  disease  germs  has  grown  the 
great  era  of  antiseptic  surgery,  inaugurated  by  Sir  Joseph  Lister,  about 
1865.  Carbolic  acid,  the  bichloride  of  mercury,  and  formalin  are  the  most 
efficient  weapons  against  the  dreaded  microbe.  To-day  every  surgeon  in 
the  civilized  world  sterilizes  his  knife,  and  conducts  the  treatment  of 
wounds  and  all  operations  by  antiseptic  methods,  in  accordance  with  a 
knowledge  of  the  deadly  influence  of  the  ubiquitous  microbe,  and  the  re- 
sult has  been  to  so  reduce  the  risk  to  life  that  even  capital  operations  are 
no  longer  coupled  with  the  apprehensions  of  death.  Every  hospital,  board 
of  health,  and  organized  medical  and  sanitary  body  predicates  its  laws 
and  modes  of  treatment  upon  the  principles  of  bacteriology. 

House  Sanitation. — The  permanent  home  of  the  microbe  is  the  sewer, 
and  sanitary  plumbing,  de- 
signed to  exclude  from  the 
house  the  germ-laden  and 
disease-breeding  gases  from 
the  sewer,  constitutes  one  of 
the  great  advances  of  the 
century.  About  3,500  pat- 
ents have  been  granted  for 
water  closets  and  bath  ap- 
pliances, and  about  900  pat- 
ents on  sewerage  alone,  the 
most  of  which  are  directed 
to  improved  conditions  of 
sanitation.  FJG-  T79A-— STREET  CONNECTIONS,  MODERN 

SANITARY    HOUSE    PLUMBING. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


257 


•APD 


FIG.    I79-— MODERN    SANITARY    HOUSE    PLUMBING. 


258  THE  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 

An  illustration  of  the  plumbing  and  sewer  connections  of  a  modern 
house  is  given  in  Figs.  179  and  1793.  The  sewer  pipes  are  shown  in 
solid  black,  the  unshaded  pipes  (in  outline  only)  are  air  ventilation  pipes, 
the  single  black  lines  are  cold  water  pipes,  and  the  dotted  lines  hot  water 
pipes.  The  important  sanitary  feature  in  modern  plumbing  is  to  keep  all 
sewer  gas  and  disease  germs  out  of  the  house.  For  this  purpose  traps 
have  long  been  used  under  the  wash  basins,  closet  hoppers,  and  sinks ; 
but  the  back  pressure  of  sewer  gas  would  sometimes  bubble  through  the 
trap  into  the  house,  and  besides  the  water  in  passing  out  from  a  basin 
would  sometimes,  by  a  siphon  effect,  pass  entirely  out  of  the  trap,  leaving 
it  unsealed.  Both  these  results  are  prevented  by  the  air  ventilation  pipes 
which  connect  with  the  discharge  side  of  every  trap  in  the  house  and 
lead  to  a  stack  extending  out  through  the  roof.  This  prevents  pressure 
of  sewer  gas  on  the  water  seal  of  the  trap,  destroys  the  siphon  action  of 
the  trap  and  allows  a  circulation  of  air  to  be  taken  in  from  the  sidewalk 
on  the  house  side  of  the  running  trap  and  through  the  sewer  pipe  of  the 
house,  and  thence  through  the  air  vent  pipes  to  the  roof. 

The  great  science  of  bacteriology,  dealing  with  these  smallest  of  living 
things,  only  came  into  existence  with  the  microscope,  and  it  was  a  field 
which  was  not  only  wholly  unknown  and  unexplored  a  few  years  ago,  but 
there  was  no  suggestion  visible  to  the  eye  to  direct  attention  to  it,  until  the 
lens  began  to  reveal  the  secrets  of  microcosm.  What  development  the  fu- 
ture may  bring  no  one  can  predict,  but  to  the  biologist  and  the  physician 
no  more  promising  field  exists.  Certain  it  is  that  the  knowledge  already 
gained  is  of  incalculable  benefit,  and  constitutes  one  of  the  greatest  eras 
of  progress  the  world  has  known,  for  with  the  noble  army  of  patient,  de- 
voted, and  self-sacrificing  physicians,  the  discoveries  of  the  scientist,  our 
boards  of  health,  our  hospitals  and  asylums  for  the  insane,  our  quarantine 
laws,  our  modern  plumbing  and  improved  sanitation  in  the  home  and  pub- 
lic departments,  there  is  no  reason  why  the  life  of  man  should  not  be 
extended  far  beyond  the  three-score  and  ten  years,  and  the  50  per  cent,  of 
population  dying  in  childhood  saved  for  useful  lives  and  citizenship. 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  259 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE  BICYCLE  AND  AUTOMOBILE. 
THE  DRAISINE,  1816 — MICHAUX'S  BICYCLE,    1855 — UNITED  STATES  PATENT  xo  LALLE- 

MENT   AND    CARROL,    l866 — TRANSITION    FROM    "VERTICAL      FORK"    AND    "STAR"    TO 

MODERN  "SAFETY" — PNEUMATIC  TIRE — AUTOMOBILE,  THE  PROTOTYPE  OF  THE  LO- 
COMOTIVE— TREVITHICK'S  STEAM  ROAD  CARRIAGE,  1801— THE  LOCOMOBILE  OF  TO- 
DAY—GAS ENGINE  AUTOMOBILES  OF  PINKUS,  1839;  SELDEN,  1879;  DURYEA,  WIN- 
TON  AND  OTHERS — ELECTRIC  AUTOMOBILES  A  DEVELOPMENT  OF  ELECTRIC  LOCOMO- 
TIVES. AS  EARLY  AS  1836—  GROUNELLE'S  ELECTRIC  AUTOMOBILE  OF  1852 — THE  CO- 
LUMBIA, AND  OTHER  ELECTRIC  CARRIAGES— STATISTICS. 

HOWEVER  superior  to  other  animals  man  may  be  in  point  of  in- 
tellect, it  must   be  admitted    that  he    is  vastly  inferior  in  his 
natural  equipment  for  locomotion.    Quadrupeds  have  twice  as 
many  legs,  run  faster,  and  stand  more  firmly.    Birds  have  their 
two  legs  supplemented  with  wings  that  give  a  wonderfully  increased  speed 
in  flight,  and  fish,  with  no  legs  at  all,  run  races  with  the  fastest  steamers ; 
but  man  has  awkwardly  toddled  on  two  stilted  supports  since  prehistoric 
time,  and  for  the  first  year  of  his  life  is  unable  to  walk  at  all.    That  he  has 
felt  his  inferiority  is   clear,  for  his   imagination  has   given  wings  to  the 
angels,  and  has  depicted  Mercury,  the  messenger  of  the  gods,  with  a 
similar  equipment  on  his  heels.    We  see  the  ambition  for  speed  exemplified 
even  in  the  baby,  who  crows  in  exhilaration  at  rapid  movement,  and  in  the 
boy  when  the  ride  on  the  flying  horses,  the  glide  on  the  ice,  or  the  swift 
descent  on  the  toboggan  slide,  brings  a  flash  to  his  eye  and  a  glow  to  his 
cheeks. 

A  characteristic  trend  of  the  present  age  is  toward  increased  speed  in 
everything,  and  the  most  conspicuous  example  of  accelerated  speed  in  late 
years  is  the  bicycle.  It  has,  with  its  fascination  of  silent  motion  and  the 
exhilaration  of  flight,  driven  the  younger  generation  wild  with  enthusiasm, 
has  limbered  up  the  muscles  of  old  age,  has  revolutionized,  the  attire  of 
men  and  women,  and  well-nigh  supplanted  the  old-fashioned  use  of  legs. 
It  is  the  most  unique  and  ubiquitous  piece  of  organized  machinery  ever 
made.  The  thoroughfares  and  highways  of  civilization  fairly  swarm  with 
thousands  of  glistening  and  silently  gliding  wheels.  It  is  to  be  found 


260 


THE   PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 


everywhere,  even  to  the  steppes  of  Asia,  the  plains  of  Australia,  and  the  ice 
fields  of  the  Arctic. 

The  true  definition  of  the  bicycle  is  a  two-wheeled  vehicle,  with  one 
wheel  in  front  and  the  other  in  the  rear,  and  both  in  the  same  vertical 
plane.  Its  life  principle  is  the  physical  law  that  a  rotating  body  tends  to 
preserve  its  plane  of  rotation,  and  so  it  stands  up,  when  it  moves,  on  the 
same  principle  that  a  top  does  when  it  spins  or  a  child's  hoop  remains  erect 
when  it  rolls. 

A  form  of  carriage  adapted  to  be  propelled  by  the  muscular  effort  of 
the  rider  was  constructed  and  exhibited  in  Paris  by  Blanchard  and  Magu- 
rier,  and  was  described  in  the  Journal  de  Paris  as  early  as  July  27,  1779, 
but  the  true  bicycle  was  the  product  of  the  Nineteenth  Century.  It  was  in- 
vented by  Baron  von  Drais,  of  Manheim-on-the  Rhine.  See  Fig.  180.  It 

consisted  of  two 
wheels,  one  before  the 
other,  in  the  same 
plane,  and  connected 
together  by  a  bar 
bearing  a  saddle,  the 
front  wheel  being  ar- 
ranged to  turn  about 
a  vertical  axis  and 
provided  with  a  han- 
dle for.  guiding.  The 
rider  supported  his 
elbows  on  an  arm  rest 
and  propelled  the  de- 
vice by  striking  his 
toes  upon  the  ground, 
and  in  this  way 
thrusted  himself 
along,  while  guiding 
his  course  by  the  han- 
dle bar  and  swivelling 
front  wheel.  This 

machine  was  called  the  "Draisine."  It  was  patented  in  France  for  the 
Baron  by  Louis  Joseph  Dineur,  and  was  exhibited  in  Paris  in  1816.  In 
1818  Denis  Johnson  secured  an  English  patent  for  an  improved  form  of 
this  device,  but  the  principle  of  propulsion  remained  the  same.  This 
device,  variously  known  as  the  "Draisine,"  "velocipede,"  "celerifere," 


FIG.    l8o. — THE  DRAISINE,    l8l6. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


261 


"pedestrian  curricle,"  "dandy  horse,"  and  "hobby-horse,"  was  introduced 
in  New  York  in  1819,  and  was  greeted  for  a  time  with  great  enthusiasm  in 
that  and  other  cities. 

On  June  26,  1819,  William  K.  Clarkson  was  granted  a  United  States 
patent  for  a  velocipede,  but  the  records  were  destroyed  in  the  fire  of  1836. 
In  1821  Louis  Gompertz  devised  an  improved  form  of  "hobby-horse,"  in 
which  a  vibrating  handle,  with  segmental  rack  engaging  with  a  pinion  on 
the  front  wheel  axle,  enabled  the  hands  to  be  employed  as  well  as  the  feet 
in  propelling  the  machine.  Such  devices  all  relied,  however,  upon  the 
striking  of  the  ground  with  the  toes.  Their  fame  was  evanescent,  how- 
ever, and  for  forty  years  thereafter  little  or  no  attention  was  paid  to  this 


FIG.    l8l. — VELOCIPEDE  OF   l868. 


means  of  locomotion,  except  in  the  construction  of  children's  carriages  and 
velocipedes  having  three  or  more  wheels. 

In  1855  Ernst  Michaux,  a  French  locksmith,  applied,  for  the  first  time, 
the  foot  cranks  and  pedals  to  the  axle  of  the  drive  wheel.  A  United  States 
patent,  No.  59,915,  taken  Nov.  20,  1866,  in  the  joint  names  of  Lallement 


262  THE   PROGRESS   OF   INVENTION 

and  Carrol,  represented,  however,  the  revival  of  development  in  this  field. 
Lallement  was  a  Frenchman,  and  built  a  machine  having  the  pedals  on  the 
axle  of  the  drive  wheel,  and  it  was  at  one  time  believed  that  it  was  he  who 
deserved  the  credit  for  this  feature,  but  it  is  claimed  for  Michaux,  and  the 
monument  erected  by  the  French  in  1894  to  Ernest  and  Pierre  Michaux 
at  Bar  le  Due  gives  strength  to  the  claim.  The  bicycle,  as  represented  at 
this  stage  of  development,  is  shown  in  Fig.  181.  In  i868-'69  machines  of 
this  type  went  extensively  into  use.  Bicycle  schools  and  riding  academies 
appeared  all  through  the  East,  and  notwithstanding  the  excessive  mus- 


FIG.    l82. — VERTICAL  FORK  OF    1879. 

cular  effort  required  to  propel  the  heavy  and  clumsy  wooden  wheels,  the 
old  "bone-shaker"  was  received  with  a  furor  of  enthusiasm. 

In  1869  Magee,  in  Paris,  made  the  entire  bicycle  of  iron  and  steel,  solid 
rubber  tires  and  brakes  followed,  and  the  front  wheel  began  to  grow  to 
larger  size,  until  in  1879  tne  bicycle  presented  the  form  shown  in  Fig.  182. 
This  placed  the  weight  of  the  rider  more  directly  over  the  drive  wheel,  and 
was  known  as  the  "vertical  fork."  It  gave  good  results  but  for  the  acci- 


THE   PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 


263 


dents  from  "headers,"  to  which  it  was  especially  liable.  Means  to  over- 
come the  danger  were  resorted  to,  and  the  "Star"  bicycle  represented  such 
a  construction.  In  this  the  high  wheel  was  behind  and  the  small  one  in 
front,  and  straps  and  ratchet  wheels  connected  the  pedals  to  the  axle.  In 
1877  Rousseau,  of  Marseilles,  removed  the  pedals  from  the  wheel  axle 
and  applied  the  power  to  the  axle  by  a  chain  extending  from  a  sprocket 
wheel  on  the  pedal  shaft  to  a  sprocket  wheel  on  the  wheel  axle.  By  gradual 
steps,  initiated  in  Starley's  "Rover"  in  1880,  (see  Fig.  183),  the  high 
front  wheel  was  reduced  in 
size,  until  the  proportions  of 
the  modern  "Safety"  (Fig. 
184)  have  been  obtained. 
Strange  to  say,  these  propor- 
tions have,  through  nearly  a 
century  of  evolution,  gone 
back  to  those  employed  in  the 
old  "Draisine,"  where  the  two 
wheels  were  of  the  same  size. 
The  modern  "Safety,"  how- 
ever, is  quite  a  different  ma- 
chine. Its  diamond  frame  of 
light  but  strong  tubular  steel, 
its  ball  bearings,  its  suspen- 
sion wheels  and  pneumatic 
tires  impart  to  the  modern  bi- 
cycle strength  with  lightness, 
and  beauty  with  ..efficiency,  to 
a  degree  scarcely  attained  by 
any  other  piece  of  organized 
machinery  designed  for  such 
trying  work. 

The  most  important  of  all  modern  improvements  on  the  bicycle  was 
perhaps  the  pneumatic  tire.  This  was  not  originally  designed  for  the 
bicycle,  but  was  patented  in  England  by  R.  W.  Thompson  in  1845  and 
in  the  United  States  May  8,  1847,  No-  5>IO4-  Its  application  to  the  bi- 
cycle was  made  in  1889  by  Dunlop,  United  States  patent  No.  435.995-  Sept. 
9,  1890,  and  453,550,  June  2,  1891.  It  furnishes  not  only  an  elastic  bearing 
which  cushions  the  jar,  but  also  makes  a  broader  tread  that  renders  cycling 
on  the  soft  roads  of  the  country  at  once  practical  and  delightful.  The 
chainless  wheel,  which  connects  the  axle  of  the  pedal  crank  with  the  axle 


FIG.  183. — "ROVER,"  1880. 


264 


THE   PROGRESS   OF   INVENTION 


of  the  rear  wheel  by  a  shaft  with  bevel  gears,  is  the  most  recent  form  ex- 
ploited by  the  manufacturers,  but  it  is  doubtful  whether  it  presents  any 
points  of  superiority  over  the  chain  type.  All  of  the  parts  of  the  bicycle 
have  come  in  for  a  share  of  attention  at  the  hands  of  inventors,  differen- 
tial speed  gears  and  brakes  having  received  especial  attention.  The  Mor- 
row hub  brake,  which  applies  friction  to  the  rear  wheel  hub  by  back  pres- 
sure on  the  pedal,  is  a  popular  modern  form.  The  first  back-pedal  brake 
is  shown  in  United  States  Pat.  No.  418,142,  to  Stover  &  Hance,  Dec.  24, 
1889. 

Among  the  many  modifications  of  the  bicycle  as  used  to-day  may  be 
mentioned  the  drop  frame,  which  has  made  cycling  possible  for  ladies,  the 
tandem,  for  two  riders,  the  sextet  or  octet,  carrying  six  or  eight  riders  and 
resembling  a  centipede  in  movement  and  an  express  train  in  speed;  the 


FIG.    184. — MODERN  "SAFETY." 

ice  velocipede,  in  which  two  runners  are  combined  with  a  spiked  driving 
wheel,  and  the  hydrocycle,  or  water  velocipede,  in  which  the  drive  wheel, 
formed  with  paddles,  is  used  to  propel  a  buoyant  hull  through  the  water. 

In  point  of  speed  there  seems  to  be  no  limit  to  the  bicycle.  In  a  test 
made  on  the  Long  Island  Railroad  in  the  summer  of  1899  between  a  wheel 
and  an  express  train,  the  bicyclist,  riding  on  a  plank  road  between  the  rails 
and  protected  behind  the  train  by  a  wind  break,  covered  a  mile  in  57  4-5 
seconds,  and  while  going  at  top  speed  of  more  than  a  mile  a  minute,  over- 
took the  train,  was  caught  by  his  friends  on  a  rear  platform  and  pulled  on 
board,  bicycle  and  all.  This  is  the  first  instance  on  record  of  overtaking 


IN    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  265 

and  boarding  an  express  train  going  at  the  rate  of  sixty-four  miles  an  hour, 
and  yet  it  is  said  that  the  rider  (Murphy)  was  not  doing  his  best. 

Nearly  5,000  patents  have  been  granted  on  velocipedes  and  bicycles. 
Most  of  them  were  for  bicycles  which,  as  improved  to-day,  are  not  Only 
as  fleet  as  the  birds,  but  almost  as  countless  in  numbers.  It  is  estimated 
that  in  1889  the  total  product  of  bicycles  in  this  country  reached  200,000 
machines  annually.  In  1892,  after  the  general  adoption  of  the  pneumatic 
tire,  a  great  increase  followed,  which  has  grown  from  year  to  year  until  in 
the  year  1899  a  conservative  estimate  for  the  output  in  the  United  States 
is  1,000,000  wheels  annually,  worth  from  thirty  to  fifty  million  dollars. 
Each  bicycle  tire  takes  about  two  pounds  of  pure  rubber,  or  four  pounds  to 
the  wheel.  The  annual  output  in  wheels  consequently  consumes  about 
4,000,000  pounds,  or  2,000  tons  of  rubber.  Ten  years  ago  there  were 
not  more  than  twenty-five  legitimate  manufacturers  of  bicycles  in  the 
United  States.  In  1897  there  were  over  200  concerns  in  the  business. 
It  is  estimated  that  there  are  to-day  between  150  and  155  regular  man- 
ufacturers, exclusive  of  the  mere  assemblers  of  parts.  The  Pope  Man- 
ufacturing Company,  which  occupies  the  leading  place,  employed  in  1888 
about  500  hands.  To-day  their  shops  give  employment  to  3,800  work- 
men, which  furnishes  a  significant  object  lesson  as  to  the  importance 
and  growth  of  the  industry. 

The  Automobile. — Gliding  silently  along  our  city  streets  without  the 
customary  accompaniment  of  the  clatter  of  the  horse's  hoofs,  the  auto- 
mobile suggests  to  the  average  observer  a  very  recent  invention.  This 
is,  however,  not  the  case.  The  automobile  is  older  even  than  the  locomo- 
tive, and  is,  in  fact,  the  early  model  from  which  the  rail  locomotive  was 
evolved.  As  early  as  1680  Sir  Isaac  Newton  proposed  a  steam  carriage 
in  which  the  propelling  power  was  the  reactionary  discharge  of  a  rear- 
wardly  directed  jet  of  steam.  Cugnot,  in  1769,  built  a  steam  carriage, 
which  is  still  preserved  in  the  museum  of  the  Conservatoire  des  Arts  et 
Metiers  in  Paris.  Hornblower  also  in  the  same  year  devised  a  steam 
carriage.  Watt's  patents  of  1769  and  1784  contemplated  the  application 
of  his  steam  engines  to  carriages  running  on  land.  Symington 
in  1770,  and  Murdoch  in  1784,  built  experimental  models.  In 
1787  Oliver  Evans  obtained  a  patent  in  Maryland  for  the  exclusive 
right  to  make  steam  road  wagons.  Nathan  Read  in  1790  also  patented 
and  built  a  steam  carriage. 

Of  these,  Cugnot  represents  the  pioneer  in  the  heavier  forms  of 
self-propelled  vehicles,  but  the  steam  carriage  which  best  deserves  to 
be  regarded  as  the  prototype  of  the  modern  passenger  automobile  is  that 


266 


THE   PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 


of  Trevithick,  in  England,  who  may  also  be  considered  as  the  father  of 
the  locomotive.  On  Christmas  eve,  1801,  this  steam  carriage  made 
its  experimental  trip  along  the  high  road  carrying  seven  or  eight  pas- 
sengers. The  next  day  the  party,  with  Trevithick  in  charge  of  the  en- 
gine, visited  Tehidy  House,  the  home  of  Lord  Dunstanville.  They  met 
with  an  accident,  however,  and  the  carriage  turned  over.  It  was  placed 
under  shelter,  and  while  the  party  were  at  the  hotel  regaling  themselves 
with*  roast  goose  and  popular  drinks,  the  water  in  the  engine  boiled 
away,  the  iron  became  red  hot,  and  nothing  combustible  was  left  either 
of  the  carriage  or  the  building  in  which  it  was  sheltered.  On  March  24, 
1802,  Trevithick  and  Vivian  obtained  a  British  patent,  No.  2,599,  on  tnis 
device,  and  another  carriage  was  built,  and  in  the  spring  of  1803  started 
a  run  from  Camborne  to  Redruth,  but  it  stuck  in  the  mud.  It  was  pop- 
ularly known  as  Capt.  Trevithick's  "Puffing  Devil."  It  was  subsequently 
reconstructed  in  London  and  run  upon  the  streets  of  that  city.  Fig. 
185  presents  an  illustration  of  the  first  steam  automobile.  The  cylinders 

and  pistons  were  en- 
closed within  the  fire 
box  in  the  rear. 
Clutches  (called  strik- 
ing boxes)  on  the  axle 
of  the  front  gear 
wheel  allowed  either 
running  wheel  to 
move  independently  of 
the  other  in  turning. 
A  pair  of  small  front 
steering  wheels  was 
arranged  to  turn 
about  a  vertical  axis 
and  was  manipulated 
by  a  handle  bar.  A 
brake  was  provided 

for  in  the  specification,  as  were  also  variable  gears  for  changing  speed,  and 
an  automatic  blower  for  the  fire.  The  carriage  had  an  elevated  coach 
body  mounted  on  springs,  and  the  running  wheels  were  of  large  size, 
adapted  to  the  higher  speed  and  lighter  uses  of  passenger  traffic.  • 

It  is  not  possible  to  trace  the  succeeding  steps  in  steam  carriage  de- 
velopment by  James  and  Anderson,  by  Gurney,  in  1822,  by  Marcerone 
and  Squire  in  1833,  by  Russel  in  1846,  and  many  others;  it  is  sufficient  to 


FIG.   185. — TREVITHICK'S  STEAM  CARRIAGE,   1801. 


IN    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY. 


267 


know  that  bad  roads  and  the  success  attending  the  steam  locomotive  on 
rails  diverted  attention  from  the  steam  road  carriage,  and  not  until  the 
latter  part  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  was  there  any  marked  revival  of 
interest  in  this  field.  Then  came  first  the  ponderous  road  engine,  known 
as  a  traction  engine,  and  used  for  heavy  hauling;  and  this  in  the  last 
decade  has  been  followed  by  the  modern  steam  motor  carriage,  an  ex- 
ample of  which  is  seen  in  Figs.  186  and  i86a,  which  represent  the  "Loco- 


FIG.  186. — "LOCOMOBILE"  STEAM  CARRIAGE. 

mobile"  and  its  actuating  mechanism.  The  fuel  used  is  gasoline,  stored 
in  a  three-gallon  tank  under  the  footboard.  The  boiler,  which  is  arranged 
under  the  seat,  is  a  vertical  cylinder  wrapped  with  piano  wire  for  greater 
tensile  strength,  and  contains  298  copper  tubes.  The  engine,  which 
is  seen  in  Fig.  i86a,  is  arranged  in  upright  position  under  the  seat,  in 
front  of  the  boiler,  has  two  cylinders,  2^2 -inch  diameter  and  4-inch 
stroke,  a  Stephenson  link-motion  and  an  ordinary  D-valve.  Sprocket 
wheels  and  a  chain  connect  the  engine  shaft  to  the  rear  axle.  The  en- 
gine runs  from  300  to  400  revolutions  per  minute  and  develops  from 


268 


THE   PROGRESS   OF   INDENTION 


four  to  five  horse  power.  It  lias  a  muffle  for  the  steam  exhaust  and  the 
whole  weight  is  550  pounds.  It  is  one  of  the  lightest  and  cheapest  of 
automobiles,  runs  easily  at  ten  to  twelve  miles  an  hour,  and  is  an  effi- 
cient hill-climber.  Although  naming  the  steam  automobile  first  because  of 
its  earlier  genesis,  it  is  not  to  be  understood  as  representing  at  present  the 

most  popular  type  of  motor  car- 
riage, although  it  bids  fair  to  be- 
come so. 

In  France  and  the  continent 
of  Europe  the  type  employing  an 
explosive  mixture  of  gasoline 
and  air  is  most  frequently  found, 
and  in  England  and  the  United 
States  the  electric  motor  with  the 
storage  battery  is  chiefly  used. 

In  automobiles  of  the  explo- 
sive gas  type  probably  the  earli- 
est example  is  found  in  the  Brit- 
ish patent  to  Pinkus,  No.  8,207, 
of  1839.  I*1  France  Lenoir,  in 
1860,  is  credited  with  being  the 
pioneer.  Among  modern  appli- 
cations the  patent  to  George  B. 
Selden,  No.  549,160,  occupies  a 
prominent  place.  This  was  only 
granted  Nov.  5,  1895,  but  the  ap- 
plication for  the  patent  was  filed 
in  the.  Patent  Office  May  8,  1879. 
so  that  the  invention  described 
has  quite  an  early  date,  and  some 
broad  claims  have  been  allowed 
to  the  inventor.  In  the  last  de- 
cade many  applications  of  the  ex- 
plosive gas  engine  to  road  car- 
riages and  tricycles  have  been 
made,  especially  in  France.  Rep- 
resentative motor  carriages  of  this  type  are  to  be  found  in  the  United  States 
in  the  Duryea  and  the  Winton.  An  illustration  of  the  latter  is  given  in  Fig. 
187.  The  form  shown  represents  a  phaeton  weighing  1,400  pounds;  the 
motor  is  of  the  single  hydrocarbon  type,  and  is  simple,  powerful  and  com- 


FIG.    l86A. — THE  FOUR  HORSE   POWER  ENGINES 

OF  "LOCOMOBILE." 


IN    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY. 


269 


pact.     It  is  also  free  from  noise  and  vibration,  and  is  under  control  at  all 
times.    The  maximum  speed  is  eighteen  miles  an  hour. 

Probably  the  most  popular  type  of  the  automobile  in  the  United 
States  is  the  "electric."  The  application  of  the  electric  motor  to  the 
propulsion  of  vehicles  dates  back  to  quite  an  early  period.  It  is  sajd 


FIG.    187. — WINTON    AUTOMOBILE,    HYDROCARBON    TYPE. 

that  as  far  back  as  1835  Stratingh  and  Becker,  of  Groeningen,  and  in 
1836  Botto,  of  Turin,  constructed  crude  electric  carriages.  Davenport, 
in  1835,  Davidson,  in  ^838,  and  Dr.  Page,  in  1851,  built  electric  loco- 
motives which  ran  on  rails.  The  prototype  of  the  electric  automobile, 


27C 


THE   PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 


however,  is  best  represented  in  the  French  patent  to  M.  Grounelle,  No. 
7,728,  Feb.  7,  1852  (2  Sen,  Vol.  25,  p.  220,  pi.  46.)  This  shows  a  per- 
fectly equipped  electric  automobile.  It  did  not  have  a  practical  electric 
generator,  however,  for  the  storage  battery  was  not  then  known.  A 
large  sulphate  of  copper  battery  was  employed,  which  could  through  the 
agency  of  a  train  of  gears  give  only  a  very  slow  speed.  This  road  car- 
riage, however,  only  needed  a  storage  battery  to  make  it  a  well  organ- 
ized and  efficient  electric  automobile.  It  is  believed  by  many  that  elec- 
tricity fulfills  more  of  the  necessary  conditions  of  a  successful  motive 
power  for  motor  carriages  than  any  other  power.  It  is  clean,  compact, 


FIG.    l88. — THE  COLUMBIA  ''DOS-A-DOS.' 


noiseless,  free  from  vibration,  heat,  dirt  and  gases,  and  is  under  perfect  con- 
trol. Its  chief  objection  is  that  it  is  only  possible  to  recharge  it  where 
electric  power  is  available,  and  in  this  respect  it  is  inferior  to  the  gaso- 
line motor,  whose  supply  may  be  conveniently  obtained  at  every  city, 
village,  and  country  store.  The  Columbia  two-seated  Dos-a-Dos  (Fig- 


IN    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  271 

1 88),  Woods'  Victoria  Hansom  Cab,  and  the  Riker  Electric  Delivery 
Wagon  are  representative  types  of  the  modern  electric  automobile. 

All  of  the  motor  carriages  illustrated  are  of  American  make,  and  for 
lightness,  grace,  and  efficiency  they  have  no  superiors.  A  peculiar  and 
recent  type  which  attracted  much  attention  and  took  the  gold  medal  at 
the  Motor  Carriage  Exposition  at  Berlin,  held  in  September,  1899,  is 
the  Pieper  double  motor  carriage.  It  has  both  a  benzine  motor  and  an 
electric  motor,  which  can  be  worked  separately  or  together,  and  yet  is 
said  to  be  lighter  than  most  electric  carriages.  On  a  long  journey,  re- 
mote from  electrical  supply,  the  benzine  motor  is  used  not  only  to  propel 
the  carriage,  but  by  running  the  electric  motor  as  a  dynamo  or  gener- 
ator, recharges  the  storage  battery.  On  level,  easy  roads,  where  the 
power  required  falls  below  the  maximum  power  exerted  by  the  benzine 
motor,  the  electric  motor  changes  automatically  to  a  dynamo  and  the 
surplus  force  of  the  benzine  motor  is  converted  into  current  and  stored. 
In  running  down  hill  or  stopping  the  carriage,  the  momentum  of  the  vehicle 
is  also  received  by  the  electric  motor  acting  as  a  dynamo  and  brake,  and 
is  stored  as  electricity  in  the  battery,  which  is  thus  in  an  ordinary  journey 
kept  constantly  charged. 

It  is  not  probable  that  man  will  ever  be  able  to  get  along  without 
the  horse,  but  the  release  of  the  noble  animal  from  the  bondage  of  city 
traffic,  which  was  begun  only  a  few  years  ago  with  mechanical  street 
car  propulsion,  promises  now  to  be  extensively  advanced  by  the  substi- 
tution of  the  motor  carriage  and  the  auto-truck  for  team-drawn  vehicles. 
The  rapidity  with  which  this  industry  has  grown,  and  its  promise  for 
the  future  may  be  realized  when  it  is  remembered  that  so  far  as  practi- 
cal results  are  concerned  it  has  all  grown  up  in  the  last  decade  of  the 
Nineteenth  Century,  and  yet  to-day  it  is  said  that  there  are  already  in 
the  United  States  about  200  incorporated  concerns  with  an  aggregate 
capitalization  of  some  $500,000,000,  organized  to  build  automobiles,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  vast  number  of  individuals  who  are  experimenting 
in  this  field.  The  greatest  activity,  however,  is  to  be  found  in  France, 
which  claims  over  600  manufacturers  and  has  in  use  6,000  automobiles 
out  of  a  total  of  11,000  in  all  of  Europe. 

The  most  significant  suggestion  for  the  future  of  the  automobile  is 
that  the  cost  of  maintenance  and  all  things  considered,  it  is  in  some  ap- 
plications cheaper  than  the  horse-drawn  vehicles  of  the  same  efficiency. 
In  a  consular  report  of  Oct.  16,  1899,  forwarded  to  the  State  Depart- 
ment by  Mr.  Marshal  Halsted,  consul  at  Birmingham,  Mr.  E.  H. 
Bayley.  an  English  authority,  is  quoted  as  saying  that  in  operating 


272  THE   PROGRESS   OF   INVENTION 

heavy  motor  vehicles  for  hauling,  the  cost  is  three  half-pence  (three 
cents)  per  net  ton  per  mile,  as  compared  with  18  to  24  cents  per  net 
ton  per  mile  by  horse-drawn  vehicles.  In  England  much  attention  is  being 
given  to  this  subject. 

As  before  stated,  the  modern  automobile  cannot  be  considered  as  a 
new  invention  so  far  as  fundamental  principles  are  concerned.  Its  suc- 
cess, in  late  years,  is  to  be  credited  to  the  perfection  of  the  arts  in  gen- 
eral, and  as  essential  factors  contributing  to  this  may  be  named  the  re- 
finement of  steel,  giving  increased  strength  with  lightness,  the  increased 
efficiency  of  motive  power,  the  vulcanization  of  rubber,  the  mathematical 
nicety  of  mechanical  adjustment,  the  reduction  of  friction  by  ball  bear- 
ings, the  wonderful  developments  in  electricity  and  improvement  in 
roads. 


IN    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  273 


CHAPTER  XXII. 
THE  PHONOGRAPH. 

INVENTION  OF  PHONOGRAPH  BY  EDISON — SCOTT'S  PHONAUTOGRAPH — IMPROVEMENTS  OF 
BELL  AND  TAINTER — THE  GRAPHOPHONE — LIBRARY  OF  WAX  CYLINDERS — THE 
GRAMOPHONE. 

FOLLOWING  closely  upon  the  discovery  of  the  telephone  the 
phonograph  came,  literally  speaking  for  itself,  and  adding  an- 
other surprise  to  the  wonderful  inventions  of  that  prolific 
period.  It  was  in  the  latter  part  of  1877  tnat  Thomas  A.  Edison 
showed  to  a  few  privileged  friends  a  modest  looking  little  machine.  He 
turned  the  crank,  and  to  the  astonishment  of  those  present  it  said, 
"Good  morning!  How  do  you  do?  How  do  you  like  the  phonograph?' 
Its  voice  was  a  little  metallic,  it  is  true,  but  here  was  presented  an  in- 
significant looking  piece  of  mechanism  which  was  undeniably  a  talking 
machine  and  one  with  an  unlimited  vocabulary.  So-called  talking  ma- 
chines had  been  made  before,  of  which  the  Faber  machine  was  a  type. 
These,  by  an  arrangement  of  bellows  to  furnish  air,  and  flexible  pipes  in 
imitation  of  the  larynx  and  vocal  organs,  made  laborious  and  wheezy 
efforts  to  imitate  the  mechanical  functions  of  the  throat  and  tongue  in 
articulate  speech,  but  the  method  was  fundamentally  faulty  and  no  suc- 
cess was  attained.  Edison  followed  no  such  leading.  His  phonograph 
made  no  attempt  at  imitating  in  construction  the  complex  organization 
of  the  human  throat,  but  was  as  wonderful  in  its  divergence  therefrom 
and  in  its  simplicity  as  it  was  in  the  success  of  its  results.  The  machine 
was  patented  by  him  Feb.  19,  1878,  No.  200,521,  and  its  life  principle  is 
simply  and  clearly  defined  in  the  first  claim  of  the  patent,  as  follows : 

"The  method  herein  specified  of  reproducing  the  human  voice,  or 
other  sounds,  by  causing  the  sound  vibrations  to  be  recorded  sub- 
stantially as  specified,  and  obtaining  motion  from  that  record  as  set 
forth  for  the  reproduction  of  sound  vibrations." 

The  invention  was  a  striking  and  interesting  novelty  and  at  once 
attracted  the  attention  of  scientific  men  as  well  as  the  general  public.  Its 
first  public  exhibition  was  about  the  latter  part  of  January,  1878,  before 
the  Polytechnic  Association  of  the  American  Institute,  at  New  York.  It 


274 


THE   PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 


spoke  English,  French,  German,  Dutch,  Spanish  and  Hebrew  with  equal 
facility.  It  imitated  the  barking  of  a  dog  and  crowing  of  a  cock,  and 
then  catching  cold,  coughed  and  sneezed  and  wheezed  until  it  is  said  a 
physician  in  the  audience  proposed  sending  a  prescription  for  it.  It  was 
also  suggested  by  an  irreverent  man  that  it  might  take  the  place  of 
preachers  in  the  rendition  of  sermons,  while  another  thought  that  as  it 
reproduced  music  with  equal  facility  it  might  take  the  place  of  preacher  and 
choir  both.  In  the  spring  of  1878  it  was  exhibited  at  Washington  by 
Edison  and  his  assistant,  Mr.  Batchelor.  Mr.  Edison  was  the  guest  of 
Mr.  U.  H.  Painter,  and  in  his  parlors  it  was  shown  to  a  party  of  gen- 
tjemen. 

From  Mr.  Painter's  house  the  machine  was  taken  to  the  office  of  the 
Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  thence  to  the  Academy  of  Sciences, 

in  session  at  the  Smith- 
sonian Institution,  and 
at  night  it  was  taken  to 
the  White  House  and 
exhibited  to  President 
and  Mrs.  Hayes. 

The  form  of  the 
first  phonograph  is 
shown  in  Fig.  189.  It 
consisted  of  three  prin- 
cipal parts — the  mouth- 
piece A,  into  which 
speech  was  uttered,  the 
spirally  grooved  cylin- 
der B,  carrying  on  its 
periphery  a  sheet  of  tin 
foil,  and  a  second 
mouthpiece  D.  The  cy- 
linder B  and  its  axial 

FIG.    189-FIRST  PHONOGRAPH.  ^     ^     ^      ^ 

vided  with  spiral  grooves  or  screw  threads  of  exactly  the 
same  pitch,  and  when  the  shaft  was  turned  by  its  crank  its  screw 
threaded  bearings  caused  the  cylinder  to  slowly  advance  as  it  rotated. 
The  mouthpiece  A  had  adjacent  to  the  cylinder  a  flexible  diaphragm 
carrying  a  little  point  or  stylus  which  bore  against  the  tin  foil  on  the  cyl- 
inder. When  the  mouthpiece  A  was  spoken  into  and  the  cylinder  B  was 
turned,  the  little  stylus,  vibrating  from  the  voice  impulses,  traced  by  in- 


IN    THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY. 


275 


dentations  a  little  jagged  path  in  the  tin  foil  that  formed  the  record. 
To  reproduce  the  record  in  speech  again,  the  mouthpiece  A  was  adjusted 
away  from  the  cylinder,  the  cylinder  run  back  to  the  starting  point,  and 
mouthpiece  D  was  then  brought  up  to  the  cylinder.  This  mouthpiece 
had  a  diaphragm  and  stylus  similar  to  the  other  one,  only  more  delicately 
constructed.  This  stylus  was  adjusted  to  bear  lightly  in  the  little  spiral 
path  in  the  tin  foil  traced  by  the  other  stylus,  and  as  the  tin  foil  revolved 
with  the  cylinder  its  jagged  irregularities  set  up  the  same  vibrations  in 


FIG.    190 — SECOND  FORM   OF   PHONOGRAPH. 

the  diaphragm  of  mouthpiece  D  as  those  caused  by  the  voice  on  the 
other  diaphragm,  and  thus  translated  the  record  into  sounds  of  artic- 
ulate speech,  exactly  corresponding  to  the  words  first  spoken  into  the 
instrument.  In  Fig.  190  is  shown  a  further  development  of  the  phono- 
graph, in  which  a  single  mouthpiece  with  diaphragm  and  stylus  serves 


276  THE   PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 

the  purpose  both  of  recorder  for  making  the  record  and  a  speaker  for 
reproducing  it,  a  trumpet  or  horn  being  used,  as  indicated  in  dotted 
lines,  to  concentrate  the  vibrations  in  recording  and  to  augment  the 
sound  in  reproducing. 

The  phonograph  is  in  reality  a  development  of  the  phonautograph, 
which  was  an  instrument  invented  by  Leon  Scott  in  1857  to  automat- 
ically record  sounds  by  diagrams.  There  is  a  model  of  Scott's  phon- 
autograph in  the  National  Museum  at  Washington,  D.  C,  and  it  con- 
sists of  a  chamber  to  catch  the  sound  waves  and  an  elastic  diaphragm 
with  stylus  working  on  a  revolving  cylinder  bearing  a  sheet  of  paper 
coated  with  lampblack.  The  phonograph's  record-making  mouthpiece, 
with  its  diaphragm  and  stylus,  is  substantially  a  phonautograph,  but  in- 
stead of  simply  causing  the  stylus  to  trace  a  record  on  carbon-coated 
paper  and  stopping  with  this  result,  Edison  traced  a  record  in  a  sub- 
stance— tinfoil — which  was  capable  of  mechanically  translating  that 
record  into  sound  again  by  a  mere  reversal  of  the  function  of  the  stylus 
and  diaphragm.  This  was  the  very  essence  of  simplicity  and  logical 
reasoning.  All  records  had  been  heretofore  traced  for  visual  inspection 
only.  Edispn's  record  was  not  for  visual  inspection,  but  was  endowed 
with  the  mechanical  function  of  reproducing  sound. 

From  the  first  Edison  believed  that  his  phonograph  was  to  fill  an 
important  place  in  the  business  activities  of  the  world,  since  here  seemed 
a  silent  but  faithful  stenographer  which  reproduced  the  words  of  the 
speaker  with  absolute  fidelity,  even  to  the  quality  of  emphasis  and  in- 
flection, and  which  made  no  mistakes,  was  always  even  with  the  speaker 
in  its  work,  and  asked  no  questions.  For  a  number  of  years,  however,, 
the  invention  lay  dormant  and  served  no  other  purpose  than  that  of  a 
scientific  curiosity  or  an  amusing  toy.  The  difficulty  of  its  practical  ap- 
plication largely  existed  in  the  perishable  form  of  the  record,  which, 
being  in  tinfoil,  was  liable  to  be  mutilated  and  distorted,  and  was  not 
well  adapted  for  storage  or  transportation. 

A  few  years  after  the  announcement  of  Mr.  Edison's  invention,  Dr. 
Alexander  Graham  Bell,  the  distinguished  inventor  of  the  telephone, 
with  his  associates,  Messrs.  Chichester  A.  Bell  and  Charles  Sumner 
Tainter,  directed  their  attention  to  the  improvement  of  the  phonograph. 
Dr.  Bell  had  received  from  the  French  government,  upon  the  recom- 
mendation of  the  French  Academy  of  Sciences,  the  Volta  prize  of  50,000 
francs  as  a  recognition  of  his  successful  work  in  acoustics  and  the  in- 
vention of  the  telephone,  and  with  this  sum  he  built  the  Volta  Institute 
in  Washington  and  carried  on  the  work  of  developing  the  phonograph. 


IN    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY. 


277 


On  May  4,  1886,  Chichester  A.  Bell  and  Sumner  Tainter  obtained 
patents  Nos.  341,214  and  341,288,  which  covered  a  great  improvement 
in  the  record  of  the  phonograph.  This  invention  substituted  for  the  tin- 
foil sheet  a  surface  of  wax,  which  was  finally  fashioned  into  a  cylinder, 
and  instead  of  merely  indenting  the  record  on  tinfoil  the  stylus  cut  a 
distinct  groove  or  kerf  in  the  wax  cylinder  as  it  revolved,  dislodging 
therefrom  a  minute  filament  or  shaving  and  forming  a  record  which 
was  not  only  far  more  positive  in  its  translating  effect  and  more  easily 
transported  and  stored,  but  was  also  less  perishable,  and  besides  it  could 
be  easily  effaced  without  loss  of  the  cylinder  by  simply  smoothing  off  the 
surface  of  the  cylinder  again  when  it  was  desired  to  make  a  new  record. 
This  invention  quickly  grew  into  practical  use,  and  is  known  as  the 
"Graphophone." 

In  Fig.  191  is  shown  on  the  left  a  cross  section  of  the  diaphragm,  re- 


FIG.    IQI. THE  GRAPHOPHONE,  RECORDING  AND  REPRODUCING  DEVICES. 


cording  stylus,  and  wax  cylinder,  of  the  graphophone,  the  stylus  plow- 
ing a  tiny  groove  in  the  wax  cylinder  in  the  act  of  recording  the  speech, 
and  on  the  right  is  shown  the  reproducing  stylus  traversing  the  record 
groove  in  the  wax  cylinder,  and  the  diaphragm  chamber  with  which  the 
ear  tubes  are  connected.  The  grooves  in  the  wax,  although  giving 


278  THE   PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 

forth  mechanical  movement  that  is  translated  into  sound,  are  very 
minute,  being  only  6-10,000  of  an  inch  deep. 

When  the  possibilities  of  the  graphophone  became  known,  capital 
was  quickly  supplied  for  its  commercial  exploitation,  and  the  Columbia 
Phonograph  Company  was  organized.  At  the  present  time,  owing  to  the 
great  increase  in  the  business,  the  control  of  the  graphophone  business 
is  vested  in  two  branches,  the  Columbia  Phonograph  Company,  which  has 
charge  of  the  selling,  and  which  has  offices  throughout  all  the  principal 
cities  of  this  country  and  some  of  the  larger  ones  of  Europe,  and  the 
American  Graphophone  Company,  which  attends  to  the  manufacturing 
branch,  and  whose  factory  is  located  at  Bridgeport,  Conn.,  where,  it  is 
said,  that  in  1898  the  production  of  the  factory  reached  the  point  of  one 
graphophone  for  every  minute  of  the  day,  making  a  total  daily  output 
of  600  machines.  Although  the  Bell  and  Tainter  patents  of  1886  repre- 
sent the  basic  principles  of  the  graphophone,  its  development  and  per- 
fection have  been  contributed  to  in  many  subsequent  improvements  by 
Messrs.  Bell,  Tainter,  McDonald,  and  others.  The  more  important  of 
these  are  covered  by  patents  No.  375,579,  Dec.  27,  1887;  No.  380,535, 
April  3,  1888;  No.  527,755,  Oct.  16,  1894,  and  No.  579,595,  March  30, 
1897. 

At  the  beginning  of  this  industry  it  was  thought  that  the  principal 
use  of  the  instrument  would  be  found  in  business  applications,  to  take 
the  place  of  the  stenographer,  but  it  proved  difficult  to  revolutionize 
office  methods,  especially  as  the  earlier  machines  were  somewhat  intri- 
cate, and  the  business  man  had  no  time  to  divide  in  engineering  a  ma- 
chine. These  difficulties,  however,  have  been  so  far  overcome  by  mod- 
ern improvements  and  simplification  of  the  machine  that  its  use  in  busi- 
ness houses  as  an  amanuensis  has  become  quite  common.  The  greatest 
use  of  the  graphophone  is,  however,  for  amusement  purposes.  Its  songs, 
orchestral  and  solo  renditions,  and  its  humorous  monologue  reproduc- 
tions constitute  to-day  a  great  library  of  wax  cylinders,  regularly  cata- 
logued and  sold  by  the  thousands.  It  will  readily  be  understood  that 
the  formation  of  the  cylinders  must  constitute  a  great  business  of  itself 
when  it  is  remembered  that  many  record  cylinders  accompany  each 
graphophone,  and  that  the  latter  are  turned  out  at  the  rate  of  one  a  minute 
by  a  single  company.  Many  thousands  of  these  cylinders  are  made  daily. 
Some  are  sent  out  simply  as  plain  wax  cylinders,  onto  which  the  records 
are  made  by  the  voice  of  the  purchaser,  while  others  have  records  made 
for  them  of  popular  music,  monologues  in  dialect,  humorous  speeches, 
etc.  The  waxy  composition,  which  is  in  reality  a  species  of  soap,  is  melted 


IN   THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY.  279 

in  huge  pots,  and  then  passes  from  one  floor  to  another,  undergoing  a 
refining  process  in  its  progress,  and  finally  reaches  the  molds.  These 
molds  are  arranged  in  rows  around  a  horizontal  wheel  about  eight  feet 
in  diameter.  The  wheel  is  kept  revolving,  and  a  man  on  one  side  is  kept 
constantly  busy  in  filling  the  molds  with  the  molten  material  as  they 
reach  him.  A  half  revolution  of  the  wheel  brings  the  filled  molds  to  the 
other  side  of  the  room,  and  by  that  time  the  material  has  hardened  suf- 
ficiently to  enable  another  attendant,  stationed  there,  to  remove  the  cyl- 
inders from  the  molds.  Thus  the  wheel  is  kept  going,  receiving  at  one 
side  a  charge  of  the  melted  wax  and  discharging  at  the  other  molded  cyl- 
inders, which  are  afterwards  turned  true  on  the  surface.  The  record- 
making  department  is  both  unique  and  interesting.  Here  the  records  of 
music  are  produced,  and  they  are  made  by  bands  and  performers  en- 
gaged for  the  purpose,  many  of  which,  operating  at  the  same  time,  pro- 
duce such  a  medley  as  to  be  scarcely  distinguishable  to  the  visitor.  The 
records  are  tested  by  about  half  a  hundred  women,  each  of  whom  has  a 
little  compartment  or  booth  framed  in  by  glass  partitions.  The  duty 
of  the  tester  is  to  decide  upon  the  merits  of  the  record  by  actually  listen- 
ing to  it  on  the  graphophone. 

A  very  important  feature  in  record-making,  from  a  commercial 
standpoint,  is  in  means  for  cheaply  duplicating  records.  If  every  record 
cylinder  had  to  be  made  by  the  separate  act  of  a  performer  such  records 
would  be  very  expensive.  An  original  record  is  first  made  by  some  cele- 
brated musician  or  speaker,  and  this  record  is  afterwards  multiplied  and 
reproduced  in  large  numbers.  For  this  purpose  an  original  record  by 
suitable  mechanism  is  made  to  take  the  place  of  the  speaker  or  singer, 
and  so  multiplies  and  reproduces  the  original  record.  The  duplicating 
of  records  was  contemplated  by  Edison  from  the  first,  as  seen  in  his 
British  patent,  1,644  °f  ^78,  and  later  appliances  for  accomplishing  such 
results  are  covered  under  Tainter's  patent,  No.  341,287,  Bettini's,  No. 
488.381,  and  McDonald's,  No.  559,806.  The  diaphragms  used  in  the 
recorders  and  reproducers  are  made  of  French  rolled  plate  glass,  thinner 
than  a  sheet  of  ordinary  writing  paper.  The  recording  stylus  is  shaped 
like  a  little  gouge  to  cut  the  little  grooves  in  the  wax,  while  the  corre- 
sponding stylus  of  the  reproducer  has  a  ball-shaped  end  to  travel  in  the 
groove.  Both  the  recording  stylus  and  reproducing  ball  are  made  of 
sapphire,  chosen  on  account  of  its  hardness,  to  resist  the  great  frictional 
wear  to  which  they  are  subjected.  When  a  record  is  to  be  effaced  from 
a  cylinder,  it  is  turned  off  smooth  on  a  sort  of  lathe,  and  the  cutting  tool 
or  knife  for  this  purpose  is  also  made  of  sapphire. 


280 


THE   PROGRESS   OF   INDENTION 


The  latest,  loudest,  and  most  impressive  form  of  the  talking  ma- 
chine is  the  "Graphophone  Grand."  This  has  a  horn  attachment  ex- 
ceeding the  big  horn  of  a  brass  band  in  size,  and  the  wax  cylinder  is 
about  four  inches  in  diameter.  Its  reproductions  in  music  and  speech 
are  so  full  and  strong  as  to  be  clearly  heard  at  the  most  remote  part  of 
a  large  hall,  and  its  versatile  voice  lends  effective  rendition  to  all  sorts 
and  kinds  of  sounds,  from  the  inspiring  chords  of  "A  Choir  Invisible" 
to  the  grandiloquent  and  facetious  rattle  of  a  noisy  and  hustling  auc- 
tioneer. 

It  is  not  to  be  understood,  however,  that  the  graphophone  is  the  only 
speaking  machine  on  the  market,  for  about  250  patents  have  been 
granted  on  phonographs  and  graphophones.  The  National  Phonograph 
Company,  under  many  later  patents  granted  to  Mr.  Edison,  manufac- 
tures and  sells  the  phonograph  shown  in  Fig.  192,  which  is  a  very  in- 


FIG.    192. — MODERN   PHONOGRAPH. 


genious  and  effective  instrument.  This  modern  form  of  phonograph  is 
actuated  either  by  electricity  or  spring  power,  is  regulated  by  a  speed 
governor,  and  bifurcated  ear  tubes  connect  with  the  diaphragm  case, 
which  tubes  are  placed  in  the  ears  when  the  instrument  is  operated. 

The  gramophone  is  also  another  speaking  machine.  This  is  the  in- 
vention of  Mr.  E.  Berliner  and  covered  by  him  in  patent  No.  372,786, 
Nov.  8,  1887.  An  illustration  of  the  gramophone  recorder  is  given  in 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH   CRXTURY. 


281 


Fig".  193.  Instead  of  a  wax  cylinder  this  machine  employs  a  flat  disc 
on  which  the  record  is  formed  as  a  volute  spiral  groove,  gradually  draw- 
ing toward  the  center.  It  is  pro.duced  as  fellows :  A  zinc  disc  is  cov- 
ered by  a  thin  film  of  acid  resisting  material,  such  as  wax  or  grease,  and 
is  placed  in  a  horizontal  pan,  mounted  to  revolve  as  a  turn  table  about 
a  vertical  axis.  A  stylus  and  diaphragm,  with  speaking  tube  attached,, 
are  arranged  above  the  disc,  and  when  spoken  into  the  vibrations  of  the: 
diaphragm  cause,  through  the  stylus,  a  record  to  be  traced  through  the 


FIG.    103. — THE  GRAMOPHONE  RECORDER. 

wax,  down  to  the  zinc.  As  the  waxed  disc  and  pan  are  revolved,  the 
stylus  and  diaphragm  are  gradually  moved  by  gears  toward  the  center 
of  the  disc.  While  the  record  is  being  traced  the  waxed  disc  is  kept 
flooded  with  alcohol  from  a  glass  jar,  seen  in  the  cut,  to  soften  the  film 
and  prevent  the  clogging  of  the  stylus.  The  disc,  when  completed,  is 
then  rinsed  off  and  etched  with  acid,  chromic  acid  being  used,  to  prevent 
liberation  of  hydrogen  bubbles.  The  etched  disc  is  then  electrotyped  to 
form  a  matrix,  and  from  this  electrotype  hard  rubber  duplicates  of  the 


282  THE   PROGRESS   OF   INVENTION 

original  record  are  molded,  which  are  capable  of  giving  1,000  reproduc- 
tions. These  rubber  discs  are  placed  on  the  reproducing  instrument, 
which  is  arranged  to  cause  the  stylus  to  freely  trail  along  in  the  spiral 
groove,  and  when  the  disc  is  rotated  under  the  said  stylus  its  record  is 
converted  into  articulate  speech.  Such  flat  disc  records  give  quite  loud 
reproductions,  are  not  easily  destroyed,. and  may  be  compactly  stored  and 
transported.  In  the  gramophone  the  diaphragm  stands  at  right  angles 
to  the  record  disc  and  the  stylus  does  not  vibrate  endwise  to  make  a  path 
of  varying  depth,  as  in  the  phonograph  and  graphophone,  but  the  stylus 
vibrates  laterally  and  traces  a  little  zigzag  line. 

The  cost  of  a  talking  machine  is  from  $5  to  $150.  The  wax  cylinders 
cost  from  25  cents  to  $3.00,  and  the  cylinders  will  hold  a  record  of  from 
800  to  1,200  words,  equivalent  to  about  three  or  four  pages  of  print  in 
an  octavo  volume.  An  important  part  of  such  machines  is  the  motor, 
which  must  maintain  a  uniform  rate  of  speed,  and  much  ingenuity  has 
been  displayed  on  this  part  of  the  machine.  Probably  the  largest  use 
of  the  phonograph  or  graphophone  is  for  home  amusement  and  exhibi- 
tion purpose.  The  coin  operated,  or  "nickel-in-the-slot"  machine,  finds 
a  popular  demand,  while  its  utilitarian  use  as  an  amanuensis,  or  sten- 
ographer, is  as  yet  a  subordinate  one. 

Although  twenty-one  years  of  age,  and  of  full  growth,  the  phono- 
graph is  ever  a  wonderfully  new  and  impressive  device.  When  listening 
to  it  for  the  first  time  the  conflict  of  emotions  which  it  excites  is  diffi- 
cult to  analyze.  A  voice  full  of  human  quality,  of  clear  and  familiar 
enunciation,  and  speaking  in  the  most  matter  of  fact  way  about  the 
most  matter  of  fact  things,  proceeds  from  an  insignificant  and  insensible 
bit  of  metal,  presenting  the  apparently  anomalous  condition  of  speech 
without  a  speaker.  When  convinced  that  there  is  no  trick,  astonishment 
struggles  with  admiration  and  a  desire  for  a  personal  introduction.  We 
speak  into  it,  and  have  the  unique  experience  of  listening  to  our  own  voice 
emanating  from  a  different  part  of  the  room,  instead  of  our  own  mouths. 
It  is  really  difficult  to  believe  one's  own  senses,  and  no  wonder  that  it  in- 
spires the  superstitious  with  a  feeling  of  awe.  If  Mr.  Edison  had  lived 
a  few  centuries  earlier,  and  had  produced  such  an  instrument,  his  life 
might  have  paid  the  penalty  of  his  ingenuity,  for  without  doubt  he  would 
have  been  classed  as  a  wizard,  and  of  close  kin  to  the  evil  one. 

The  phonograph  is  the  truth-telling  and  incontrovertible  witness 
whose  memory  is  never  at  fault,  and  whose  nerves  are  never  discomposed 
by  any  cross-examination.  As  evidence  in  court  its  word  cannot  be 
doubted,  and  the  witness  confronted  by  his  own  utterances  from  the 


IN    THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY.  283 

phonograph  must  yield  to  its  infallible  dictum.  The  dying  father,  unable 
to  write,  may  dictate  to  it  his  last  will  and  testament,  and  leave  a  message 
for  his  loved  ones,  and  long  after  the  sod  is  green  on  his  grave,  that 
message  would  still  be  audible,  and  fresh  and  true  to  all  the  tender  inflec- 
tions of  the  heart's  emotions.  By  its  aid  the  Holy  Father,  at  Rome,  may 
give  his  personal  and  audible  blessing  to  his  children  throughout  the  world, 
though  separated  by  thousands  of  miles.  Who  can  tell  what  stories  of  in- 
teresting and  instructive  knowledge  would  be  in  our  possession  if  the  pho- 
nograph had  appeared  in  the  ages  of  the  past,  and  its  records  had  been  pre- 
served? The  voices  of  our  dead  ancestors,  whose  portraits  hang  on  the 
wall,  and  the  eloquent  words  of  Demosthenes  and  Cicero  would  be  pre- 
served to  us.  In  fact,  we  should  be  brought  into  vocal  contact  with  the 
world's  heroes,  martyrs,  saints,  and  sages,  and  all  the  great  actors  and 
teachers  whose  personalities  have  made  history,  and  whose  teachings 
have  given  us  our  best  ideals.  But  perhaps  the  most  practical 
and  best  characterization  of  the  phonograph  is  given  in  Mr.  Edison's  own 
terse  words.  He  says :  "In  one  sense  it  knows  more  than  we  know  our- 
selves, for  it  retains  the  memory  of  many  things  which  we  forget,  even 
though  we  have  said  them.  It  teaches  us  to  be  careful  of  what  we  say,  and 
.1  am  sure  makes  men  more  brief,  more  businesslike,  and  more  straightfor- 
ward." 


284  THE   PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

OPTICS. 

EARLY  TELESCOPES— THE  LICK  TELESCOPE— THE  GRANDE  LUNETTE — THE  STEREO- 
BINOCULAR  FIELD  GLASS — THE  MICROSCOPE — THE  SPECTROSCOPE — POLARIZATION 
OF  LIGHT — KALEIDOSCOPE — STEREOSCOPE — RANGE  FINDER — KINETOSCOPE  AND  MOV- 
ING PICTURES. 

4  ND  God  said,  Let  there  be  light :  and  there  was  light.  And  God 
*  *  /  \  saw  the  light  that  it  was  good ;  and  God  divided  the  light 
1  V  from  the  darkness."  Thus  early  in  the  account  of  the  crea- 
tion is  evidenced  man's  appreciation  of  the  value  of  vision. 
Of  all  the  senses  which  place  man  in  intelligent  relation  to  his  environment 
none  is  so  important  as  sight.  More  than  all  the  others  does  it  establish  our 
relation  to  the  material  world.  When  the  babe  is  born,  and  its  little  eman- 
cipated soul  is  brought  in  contact  with  the  world,  its  wondering  gaze  sees 
the  panorama  of  visible  things  touching  its  eyes,  and  it  stretches  forth  its 
tiny  arms  in  the  vain  effort  to  pluck  the  stars,  apparently  within  its  reach. 
Distance  and  time  add  their  values  to  light  and  vision,  and  as  his  life  ex- 
pands to  greater  fullness,  the  perspective  of  his  existence  creeps  into  his 
consciousness,  and  he  finds  himself  farther  away,  but  still  peering  beyond 
into  the  infinity  of  distance,  searching  for  the  visible  evidence  of  knowl- 
edge. From  the  earliest  times  man  learned  to  spurn  the  groveling 
things  of  earth,  and  to  delight  his  soul  with  the  marvelous  infinity  of  the 
sky  and  its  heavenly  bodies.  Nunc  ad  astro,  was  his  ambitious  cry,  and  in 
no  field  has  his  quest  for  knowledge  been  more  skillfully  directed,  faithfully 
maintained,  or  richly  rewarded  than  in  the  study  of  astronomy.  Many  im- 
portant discoveries  in  this  field  have  been  made  in  the  Nineteenth  Century, 
among  which  may  be  named  the  discovery  of  the  planet  Neptune  by 
Adams,  Leverrier  and  Galle  in  1846;  the  satellites  of  Neptune  in  1846,  and 
those  of  Saturn  in  1848  by  Mr.  Lassell ;  the  two  satellites  of  Mars  by  Prof. 
Asaph  Hall  in  1877;  and  the  discovery  of  the  so-called  canals  of  Mars  by 
Schiaparelli  in  1877.  But  the  purpose  of  this  work  is  to  deal  with  material 
inventions  rather  than  scientific  discoveries,  and  the  leading  invention  in 
optics  is  the  telescope. 

Who  invented  the  telescope  is  a  question  that  cannot  now  be  answered. 


IN    THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY.  285 

For  many  years  Galileo  was  credited  in  popular  estimation  with  having 
made  this  invention  in  1609.  But  it  is  now  known  that,  while  he  built  tele- 
scopes, and  discovered  the  mountains  of  the  moon,  the  spots  on  the  sun's 
disk,  the  crescent  phases  of  Venus,  the  four  satellites  of  Jupiter,  the  rings 
of  Saturn,  and  made  the  first  important  astronomical  observations,  the  in- 
vention of  the  telescope,  as  an  instrument,  could  not  be  rightly  claimed  for 
him.  Borelli  credits  it  to  Jansen  &  Lippersheim,  spectacle  makers,  of  Mid- 
dleburg,  Holland,  about  1590;  Descartes  credits  it  to  James  Metius  ;  Hum- 
boldt  says  Hans  Lippershey  (or  Laprey),  a  native  of  Wesel  and  a  spectacle 
maker  of  Middeburg  in  1608,  naming  also  Jacob  Adriansz,  sometimes 
called  Metius  and  also  Zacharias  Jansen. 

The  great  impetus  given  to  the  study  of  astronomy  by  Galileo,  in  1609, 
was  followed  up  by  Huygens  in  1655  w^n  ms  improvement,  by  Gregory's 
reflecting  telescope  of  1663,  and  Newton's  in  1668.  In  1733  Chester  More 
Hall  invented  the  achromatic  object  glass  of  crown  and  flint  glass.  In  1758 
John  Dolland  reinvented  and  introduced  the  same  in  the  manufacture  of 
telescopes.  In  1^79  Herschel  built  his  reflecting  telescope,  and  in  March, 
1781,  he  discovered  the  planet  Uranus.  In  1789  he  built  his  great  reflector. 
It  was  while  the  latter  telescope  was  exploring  the  heavens  that  the  Nine- 
teenth Century  began,  and  in  the  early  part  of  this  century  Herschel  laid 
before  the  Royal  Society  a  catalogue  of  many  thousand  nebulae  and  clusters 
of  stars.  Among  the  great  telescopes  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  may  be 
mentioned  that  made  in  London  in  1802  for  the  observatory  of  Madrid, 
which  cost  £11,000;  the  great  reflecting  telescope  of  the  Earl  of  Rosse, 
erected  at  Parsonstown,  in  Ireland,  in  1842-45.  This  was  6  feet  diameter, 
54  feet  focal  length,  and  cost  over  £ 20,000 ;  the  magnificent  equatorial  tele- 
scopes set  up  at  the  National  Observatories  at  Greenwich  and  Paris  in 
1860 ;  Foucault's  reflecting  telescope  at  Paris,  1862,  whose  mirror  was  31 1/2 
inches  diameter,  and  focal  length  17^  feet;  Mr.  R.  S.  Newall's  telescope, 
set  up  at  Gateshead  by  Cookes,  of  York,  in  1870;  object  glass,  25  inches, 
tube,  30  feet ;  Mr.  A.  Ainslie  Common's  reflecting  telescope,  Ealing,  Mid- 
dlesex, 1879,  mirror,  37^  inches  diameter,  tube,  20  feet;  the  telescope  at 
the  United  States  Observatory,  at  Washington,  1873,  object  glass,  26 
inches,  tube,  33  feet  long;  and  the  large  refracting  telescope  by  Howard 
Grubb,  at  Dublin,  for  Vienna,  1881. 

In  more  recent  times  the  great  refracting  telescope  by  Alvan  Clark  & 
Sons,  for  the  Lick  Observatory  on  Mount  Hamilton,  California,  in  1888, 
attracted  attention  as  superior  to  anything  in  existence  up  to  that  time. 
This  is  shown  in  Fig.  194.  The  supporting  column  and  base  are  of  iron, 
weighing  twenty-five  tons.  This  rests  on  a  masonry  foundation,  which 


THE  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 


FIG.  194.— TELESCOPE  AT  LICK  OBSERVATORY. 


IN    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  287 

forms  the  tomb  of  James  Lick,  its  founder.  The  tube"  is  52  feet  long,  4  feet 
diameter  in  the  middle,  tapering  to  a  little  over  3  feet  at  the  ends.  The  ob- 
ject glass  is  36  inches  in  diameter,  and  weighs,  with  its  cell,  530  Ibs.  The 
steel  dome  is  75.  feet  4  inches  in  diameter,  and  the  weight  of  its  moving 
parts  is  100  tons.  This  instrument  was  perfectly  equipped  with  all  gauges, 
scales,  photographic  and  spectroscope  accessories,  and  fulfilled  the  condi- 
tion imposed  in  the  trust  deed  of  James  Lick,  of  being  "superior  to  and 
more  powerful  than  any  telescope  made."  It  is  a  giant  among  instruments 
of  precision,  and  its  ponderous  aspect  still  asserts  the  dignity  of  its  purpose, 
and  impresses  even  the  frivolous  visitor  with  a  silent  and  thoughtful  re- 
spect. 

It  is  not  to  be  understood,  however,  that  the  great  Lick  telescope  still 
maintains  its  supremacy.  The  Yerkes  telescope,  which  was  exhibited  at  the 
World's  Fair  Exposition  in  1893,  at  Chicago,  had  an  object  glass  of  3.28 
feet  in  diameter  and  a  focal  distance  of  65  feet,  and  it  moved  around  a  cen- 
tral axis  in  a  vast  cupola  or  dome  78  feet  in  diameter.  The  Grand  Equa- 
torial of  Gruenewald,  at  the  recent  Berlin  Exposition,  was  even  still  larger, 
since  its  object  glass  was  3  feet  7  inches,  or  nearly  2  inches  larger  than  the 
Yerkes. 

Even  these  great  instruments  have  now  been  excelled  in  the  Grande 
Lunette,  of  the  Paris  Exposition,  in  1900.  When  it  is  remembered  that  an 
increase  in  the  diameter  of  any  circular  body  causes,  for  every  additional 
inch,  a  vastly  disproportionate  increase  in  the  cross-sectional  area  and 
weight,  it  will  readily  be  seen  how  handicapped  the  instrument  maker 
is  in  any  increase  in  the  power  of  such  a  telescope.  An  increased 
diameter  of  a  few  inches  in  the  glass  lens  means  an  enormous  increase 
in  the  cross  section,  its  weight  and  the  difficulties  attending  its  success- 
ful casting  free  from  imperfections,  and  the  perfect  grinding  and  polish- 
ing of  the  lens.  An  increased  length  of  the  tubular  case  of  the  telescope 
is  liable  to  involve,  from  the  great  weight,  a  slight  bending  or  springing 
out  of  axial  alignment  when  supported  near  the  middle  for  equatorial 
adjustment,  and  a  few  feet  increase  in  the  diameter  of  the  massive  and 
movable  steel  dome  add  greatly  to  the  weight  and  incidental  difficulties 
of  constructing  and  delicately  adjusting  it.  The  great  Lunette,  see  Fig. 
195,  changes  entirely  the  method  of  manipulating  the  telescope,  and  also, 
in  a  measure,  its  principle  of  action,  so  as  to  avoid  some  of  these  difficul- 
ties. Its  tube,  instead  of  being  pointed  upwardly  through  the  slot  of  a 
movable  dome,  and  made  adjustable  with  the  dome,  is  laid  down  hori- 
zontally on  a  stationary  base  of  supporting  pillars,  and  an  adjustable 
reflecting  mirror  and  regulating  mechanism,  called  a  "siderostat,"  is 


288 


THE   PROGRESS   OF   INVENTION 


tan-ranged  at  one  end,  to  catch  the  view  of  the  star,  or  moon,  and  reflect 
it  into  the  great  tube,  and  through  its  lenses  on  to  the  screen  at  the  other 
•end.  The  tube  is  197  feet  long,  and  the  object  glass  or  lens  is  a  fraction 
over  4  feet  in  diameter.  There  are  two  of  these,  which  together  cost 
$120,000.  The  siderostat  is  supported  on  a  large  cast  iron  frame,  and 


FIG.   195. — GREAT  TELESCOPE,   PARIS  EXPOSITION,    IQOO. 

is  provided  with  clockwork  and  devices  for  causing  the  mirror  to  fol- 
low the  movement  of  the  celestial  object  which  is  being  viewed.  The 
entire  weight  of  the  siderostat  and  base  is  99,000  pounds,  the  movable 
part  weighs  33,000  pounds,  and  the  mirror  and  its  cell  weigh  14,740. 
The  mirror  itself  is  of  glass,  weighs  7,920  pounds,  is  6.56  feet  in  diameter, 


IX    THE    NINETEENTH    CEXTURY. 


289 


and  10.63  inches  thick.  To  facilitate  the  free  and  sensitive  adjustment 
of  this  great  mirror  its  base  floats  in  a  reservoir  of  mercury.  The  entire 
cost  of  the  instrument  is  said  to  be  over  2,000,000  francs.  With  the 
wonderful  strides  of  improvement  in  all  fields  of  invention,  it  is  not  un- 
reasonable to  suppose  that  the  revelations  in  astronomy  may  keep  pace 
with  those  of  mundane  interest,  and  that  great  discoveries  may  be  made 
in  the  near  future.  The  average  individual  does  not  bother  himself  much 
about  the  calculation  of  eclipses,  or  the  laws  which  govern  the  movements 
of  an  erratic  comet.  He  is,  s  however,  intensely  personal  and  neighborly, 
and  what  he  wants  to  know^  is,  Is  Mars  inhabited  ?  and  if  so,  are  its 
denizens  men,  and  may  we  communicate  with  them?  The  wonderful 
regularity  of  the  so-called  canals,  of  apparently  intelligent  design,  already 
discovered  on  the  surface  of  Mars,  has  stimulated  this  neighborly  curi- 
osity into  an  expectant  interest,  and  who  knows  what  marvelous  intro- 
ductions the  modern  telescope  may  bring  about? 

Many  minor  improvements  have  been  made  in  recent  years  in  the 
form  of  the  telescope  known  as  field  and  opera  glasses.  Probably  the 
most  important  of  these  is  the  Stereo-Binocular,  invented  by  Prof.  Abbe, 
of  Germany,  and  pat- 
ented by  him  in  that  : 
country  in  1893,  and 
also  in  the  United 
States.  June  22,  1897, 
Xo.  584,976.  This 
gives  a  much  in- 
creased field,  and  also 
an  increased  stereo- 
scopic effect,  or  con- 
ception of  relative  dis- 
tance, by  having  the 
object  glasses  wider 
apart  than  the  eyes  of 
the  observer.  The 
field  is  also  flatter, 
the  instrument  ren- 
dered very  much 
smaller  and  more 

compact,  and  no  change  of  focus  is  required  for  changing  from  near-by  to 
remote  objects.  The  rays  of  light,  see  Fig.  196,  enter  the  object  glasses, 
strike  a  double  reflecting  prism,  and  are  first  thrown  away  from  the  ob- 


FIG,  196.— PROF.  ABBE'S  STEREO-BINOCULAR. 


290 


THE   PROGRESS   OF   INVENTION 


server,  and  then  striking  another  double  reflecting  prism,  arranged  after 
Porro  s  method,  are  returned  to  the  observer  in  line  with  the  eye-piece. 

The  Microscope.  —  Just  as  the  telescope  reveals  the  infinity  of  the  great 
world  above  and  around  us,  so  does  the  microscope  reveal  the  infinity 
of  the  little  world  around,  about,  and  within  us.  Its  origin,  like  the 
telescope,  is  hidden  in  the  dim  distance  of  the  past,  but  it  is  believed  to 

antedate  the  telescope. 
Probably  the  dewdrop 
on  a  leaf  constituted  the 
first  microscope.  The 
magnifying  power  of 
glass  balls  was  known  to 
the  Chinese,  Japanese, 
Assyrians  and  Egyp- 
tians, and  a  lens  made  of 
rock  crystal  was  found 
among  the  ruins  of  Xin- 
evah.  The  microscope  is 
either  single  or  com- 
pound. In  the  single  the 
object  is  viewed  directly. 
In  the  compound  two  or 
more  lenses  are  so  ar- 
ranged that  the  image 
formed  by  one  is  magni- 
fied by  the  others,  and 
viewed  as  if  it  were  the 
object  itself.  The  single 
microscope  cannot  be 
claimed  by  any  inventor. 
The  double  or  compound 
microscope  was  invented 
by  Farncelli  in  1624,  and 
it  was  in  that  century 
that  the  first  important 
applications  were  made 
for  scientific  investiga- 


te.  IQ7.-MODERN  MICROSCOPE. 

gations  were  made,  how- 
ever, by  the  single  microscope,  and  the  names  of  Borelli,  Malpighi,  Lieber- 


IN    THE   NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  291 

kuhn,  Hooke,  Leeuwenhoek,  Swammerden,  Lyonnet,  Hewson  and  Ellis 
were  conspicuous  as  the  fathers  of  microscopy.  For  more  than  two 
hundred  and  fifty  years  the  microscope  has  lent  its  magnifying  aid  to  the 
eye,  and  step  by  step  it  has  been  gradually  improved.  Joseph  J.  Lister's 
aplanatic  foci  and  compound  objective,  in  1829,  was  a  notable  improve- 
ment in  the  first  part  of  the  century,  and  this  has  been  followed  up  by 
contributions  from  various  inventors,  until  the  modern  compound  micro- 
scope, Fig.  197,  is  a  triumph  of  the  optician's  art,  and  an  instrument  of 
wonderful  accuracy  and  power.  Its  greatest  work  belongs  to  the  Nine- 
teenth Century. 

Alultiplying  the  dimensions  of  the  smallest  cells  to  more  than  a  thou- 
sand times  their  size,  it  has  brought  into  range  of  vision  an  unseen  world, 
developed  new  sciences,  and  added  immensely  to  the  stores  of  human 
knowledge.  To  the  biologist  and  botanist  it  has  yielded  its  revelations 
in  cell  structure  and  growth ;  to  the  physician  its  diagnosis  in  urinary 
and  blood  examinations ;  in  histology  and  morbid  secretions  it  is  in- 
valuable ;  in  geology  its  contribution  to  the  knowledge  of  the  physical 
history  of  the  world  is  of  equal  importance ;  while  in  the  study  of 
bacteriology  and  disease  germs  it  has  so  revolutionized  our  conception 
of  the  laws  of  health  and  sanitation,  and  the  conditions  of  life  and  death, 
and  is  so  intimately  related  to  our  well  being,  as  to  mark  probably  the 
greatest  era  of  progress  and  useful  extension  of  knowledge  the  world  has 
ever  known.  In  the  useful  arts,  also,  it  figures  in  almost  every  depart- 
ment ;  the  jeweler,  the  engraver,  the  miner,  the  agriculturalist,  the  chem- 
ical manufacturer,  and  the  food  inspector,  all  make  use  of  its  magnifying 
powers. 

To  the  microscope  the  art  of  photography  has  lent  its  valuable  aid,  so 
that  all  the  revelations  of  the  microscope  are  susceptible  of  preservation 
in  permanent  records,  as  photomicrographs.  A  curious,  but  very  prac- 
tical, use  of  the  microscope  was  made  in  the  establishment  of  the  pigeon- 
post  during  the  siege  of  Paris  in  1870-71.  Shut  in  from  the  outside  world, 
the  resourceful  Frenchmen  photographed  the  news  of  the  day  to  such 
microscopic  dimensions  that  a  single  pigeon  could  carry  50,000  messages, 
which  weighed  less  than  a  gramme.  These  messages  were  placed  on 
delicate  films,  rolled  up,  and  packed  in  quills.  The  pigeons  were  sent 
out  in  balloons,  and  flying  back  to  Paris  from  the  outer  world,  carried 
these  messages  back  and  forth,  and  the  messages,  when  reaching  their 
destination,  were  enlarged  to  legible  dimensions  and  interpreted  by  the 
microscope.  It  is  said  that  two  and  a  half  million  messages  were  in 
this  way  transmitted. 


292 


THE   PROGRESS    OP   INDENTION 


The  Spectroscope. — To  the  popular  comprehension,  the  best  definition 
of  any  scientific  instrument  is  to  tell  what  it  does.  Few  things,  however, 
so  tax  the  credulity  of  the  uninformed  as  a  description  of  the  functions 
and  possibilities  of  the  spectroscope.  To  state  that  it  tells  what  kind 
of  materials  there  are  in  the  sun  and  stars,  millions  of  miles  away,  seems 
like  an  unwarranted  attack  upon  one's  imagination,  and  yet  this  is  one 
of  the  things  that  the  spectroscope  does.  A  few  commonplace  observa- 
tions will  help  to  explain  its  action.  Every  schoolboy  has  seen  the  play 

of  colors  through  a 

triangular    prism  of 

^a^^  :r  ^x      glass,  as  seen  in  Fig. 

1  Jjj  ||     198,    and    the   oldei- 

..>-  ill  tfaiiSllL     g"eneration      remem- 

bers the  old-fashion- 
ed   cand  e  1  a  b  r  a  s  , 
which,     with     their 
brilliant        pendants 
of     cut     glass     cast 
beautiful         colored 
patches  on  the  wall, 
and   whose   dancing 
beauties       delighted 
the  souls  of  many  a 
boy  and  girl  of  fifty 
years      ago.        This 
spread    of    color    is 
called  the   spectrum, 
and    it    is    with    the 
spectrum      that    the 
spectroscope   has   to 
deal.  The  white  light 
of  the   sun   is   com- 
posed of  the  seven  colors :  red,  orange,  yellow,  green,  blue,  indigo,  and 
violet.    When  a  sunbeam  falls  upon  a  triangular  prism  of  glass  the  beam  is 
bent  from  its  course  at  an  angle,  and  the  different  colors  of  its  light  are 
deflected  at  different  angles  or  degrees,  and  consequently,  instead  of  ap- 
pearing as  white  light,  the  beam  is  spread  out  into  a  divergent  wedge  shape, 
that  separates  the  colors  and  produces  what  is  called  the  spectrum.    This 
discovery  was  made  by  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  in  1675. 

In  1802  Dr.  Wollaston,  in  repeating  Newton's  experiments,  admitted 


FIG.    IO8. — PRISM   AND  SPECTRUM. 


IN    THE   NINETEENTH    CENTURY. 


293 


the  beam  of  light  through  a  very  narrow  slit,  instead  of  a  round  hole, 
and  noticed  that  the  spectrum,  as  spread  out  in  its  colors,  was  not  a  con- 
tinuous shading  from  one  color  into  another,  but  he  found  black  lines 
crossing  the  spectrum.  These  black  lines  were,  in  1814,  carefully  mapped 
by  a  German  optician,  named  Fraunhofer,  and  were  found  by  him  to  be 
576  in  number.  The  next  step  toward  the  spectroscope  was  made  by 
Simms,  an  optician,  in  1830,  who  placed  a  lens  in  front  of  the  prism  so 
that  the  slit  was  in  the  focus  of  the  lens,  and  the  light  passing  through 
the  slit  first  passed  through  the  lens,  and  then  through  the  prism.  This 
lens  \vas  called  the  "Collimating"  lens.  With  these  preliminary  steps  of 
development,  Prof.  Kirchhoff  began  in  1859  his  great  work  of  mapping 
the  solar  spectrum,,  and  he,  in  connection  with  Prof.  Bunsen,  found  sev- 
eral thousand  of  the  dark  lines  in  the  spectrum,  and  laid  the  foundation 
cf  spectrum-analysis,  or  the  determination  of  the  nature  of  substances 
from  the  spectra  cast  by  them  when  in  an  incandescent  state. 

The  form  of  KirchhorFs  spectroscope  is  given  in  Fig.   199.     The  slit 


FIG.  199. — KIRC&HOFF'S  FOUR-PRISM  SPECTROSCOPE. 

forming  slide  is  seen  on  the  far  end  of  the  tube  A,  and  is  shown  in  en- 
larged detached  view  on  the  right.  The  collimating  lens  is  contained  in 
the  tube  A.  The  beam  of  light  entering  the  slit  at  the  far  end  of  the 
tube  A,  passes  through  the  lens  in  that  tube,  and  then  passes  successively 
through  the  four  triangular  prisms  on  the  table,  and  is  successively  bent 
by  these  and  thrown  in  the  form  of  a  spectrum  into  the  telescopic  tube  B, 


294  THE  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 

and  is  seen  by  the  eye  at  the  remote  end  of  said  tube  B.  The  greater 
the  number  of  prisms  the  wider  is  the  dispersion  of  the  rays  and  the 
longer  is  the  spectrum,  and  the  more  easily  studied  are  the  peculiar  lines 
which  Wollaston  and  Fraunhofer  found  crossing  it.  It  was  the  presence 
of  these  black  lines  on  the*  spectrum  which  led  to  the  development  of  the 
spectroscope  and  established  its  significance  and  value.  The  work  which 
the  spectroscope  does  is  simply  to  form  an  extended  spectrum,  but  this 
spectrum  varies  with  the  different  kinds  of  light  admitted  through  the  slit, 
the  different  kinds  of  light  showing  different  arrangement  of  colored 
bands  and  dark  lines,  and  such  a  definite  relation  between  the  light  of 
various  incandescing  elementary  bodies  and  their  spectra  has  been  found 
to  exist,  that  the  casting  of  a  definite  spectrum  from  the  sun  or  stars  in- 
dicates with  certainty  the  presence  in  the  sun  or  stars  of  the  incandescing 
element  which  produces  that  spectrum.  This  application  of  the  spectro- 
scope is  called  spectrum-analysis,  and  by  rendering  any  substance  incan- 
descent in  the  flame  of  a  Bunsen  burner,  and  directing  the  light  of  its  in- 
candescence through  the  spectroscope,  its  spectrum  gives  the  basis  of  in- 
telligent chemical  identification.  So  delicate  is  its  test  that  it  has  been 
calculated  by  Profs.  Kirchhoff  and  Bunsen  that  the  eighteen-millionth  part 
of  a  grain  of  sodium  may  be  detected. 

The  useful  applications  of  the  spectroscope  are  found  principally  in 
astronomy  and  the  chemical  laboratory,  but  some  industrial  applications 
have  also  been  made  of  it  in  metallurgical  operations,  as,  for  instance,  in 
determining  the  progress  of  the  Bessemer  process  of  making  steel,  and 
also  for  testing  alloys.  Many  hitherto  unknown  metals  have  also  been 
discovered  through  the  agency  of  the  spectroscope,  among  which  may  be 
named  caesium,  rubidium,  thallium,  and  indium. 

The  field  of  optics  is  so  large  that  many  interesting  branches  can  re- 
ceive only  a  casual  mention.  The  polarization  of  light,  first  noticed  by 
Bartholinus  in  1669,  and  by  Huygens  in  1678,  in  experiments  in  double 
refraction  with  crystals  of  Iceland  spar,  were  followed  in  the  Nineteenth 
Century  by  the  discoveries  of  Mains,  Arago,  Fresnel,  Brewster,  and  Biot. 
Mains,  in  1808,  discovered  polarization  by  reflection  from  polished  sur- 
faces; Arago,  in  1811,  discovered  colored  polarization;  Nicol,  in  1828,  in- 
vented the  prism  named  after  him.  The  Kaleidoscope  was  invented  by 
Sir  David  Brewster  in  1814,  and  British  patent  No.  4,136  granted  him 
July  10,  1817,  for  the  same.  The  reflecting  stereoscope  was  invented  by 
Wheatstone  in  1838,  and  the  lenticular  form,  as  now  generally  used,  was 
invented  by  Sir  David  Brewster  in  the  year  1849. 

Among  the  more  recent  inventions  of  importance  in  optics  may  be 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  295 

mentioned  the  Fiske  range  finder  (Patent  No.  418,510,  December  31, 
1889),  for  enabling-  a  gunner  to  direct  his  cannon  upon  the  target  when 
its  distance  is  unknown,  or  even  when  obscured  by  fog  or  smoke.  The 
Beehler  solarometer  (Patent  No.  533,340,  January  29,  1895),  is  also  an 
important  scientific  invention,  which  has  for  its  object  to  determine  the 
position,  or  the  compass  error,  of  a  ship  at  sea  when  the  horizon  is 
obscured.  There  is  also  in  late  years  a  great  variety  of  entertaining  and 
instructive  apparatus  in  photography,  and  improvements  in  the  stere- 
opticon  and  magic  lantern. 

The  most  interesting  of  the  latter  is  the  Kinetoscope,  for  producing  the 
so-called  moving  pictures,  in  which  the  magic  lantern  and  modern  results 
in  the  photographic  art,  have  wrought  wonders  on  the  screen.  The  old- 
fashioned  magic  lantern  projections  were  interesting  and  instructive  ob- 
ject lessons,  but  modern  invention  has  endowed  the  pictures  with  all  the 
atmosphere  and  naturalness  of  real  living  scenes,  in  which  the  figures 
move  and  act,  and  the  scenes  change  just  as  they  do  in  real  life. 

The  foundation  principle  upon  which  these  moving  pictures  exist  is 
that  of  persistence  of  vision.  If  a  succession  of  views  of  the  same  object 
in  motion  is  made,  with  the  moving  object  in  each  consecutive  figure 
changed  just  a  little,  and  progressively  so  in  a  constantly  advancing  atti- 
tude in  a  definite  movement,  and  those  different  positions  are  rapidly 
presented  in  sequence  to  the  eye  in  detached  views,  the  figures  appear  to 
constantly  move  through  the  changing  position.  The  theory  of  the  dura- 
tion of  visible  impressions  was  taught  by  Leonardo  da  Vinci  in  the  fif- 
teenth century,  and  practical  advantage  has  been  taken  of  the  same  in 
a  variety  of  old-fashioned  toys,  known  as  the  phenakistoscope,  thau- 
matrope,  zoetrope,  stroboscope,  rotascope,  etc. 

The  phenakistoscope  was  invented  by  Dr.  Roget,  and  improved  by 
Plateau  in  1829,  and  also  by  Faraday.  A  circular  disk,  bearing  a  circular 
series  of  figures  is  mounted  on  a  handle  to  revolve.  The  figures  following 
each  other  show  consecutively  a  gradual  progression,  or  change  in  posi- 
tion. The  disk  has  radial  slits  around  its  periphery,  and  is  held  with  its 
figured  face  before  a  looking  glass.  When  the  reflection  is  viewed  in  the 
looking  glass  through  the  slits,  the  figures  rapidly  passing  in  succession 
before  the  slits  appear  to  have  the  movements  of  life.  The  thaumatrope, 
which  originated  with  Sir  John  Herschel,  consists  of  a  thin  disc,  bearing 
on  opposite  sides  two  associated  objects,  such  as  a  bird  and  a  cage,  or 
a  horse  and  a  man.  This,  when  rotated  about  its  diameter,  to  bring 
alternately  the  bird  and  cage  into  view,  appears  to  bring  the  bird  into 
the  cage,  or  to  put  the  rider  on  the  horse's  back,  as  the  case  may  be. 


296 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


SHOOTING  GLASS  BALLS.  FIRING   DISAPPEARING  GUN. 

FIG.    2OO. 


'IN   THE  NINETEENTH   CENTURY.  297 

The  zoctrope,  described  in  the  Philosophical  Magazine,  January,  1834, 
employs  the  general  principle  of  the  phenakistoscope,  except  that,  instead 
of  a  disc  before  a  looking  glass,  an  upright  rotating  drum  cr  cylinder  is 
employed,  and  has  its  figures  on  the  inside,  and  is  viewed,  when  rotating, 
through  a  succession  of  vertical  slits  in  the  drum. 

The  earliest  patents  found  in  this  art  are  the  British  patent  to  Shaw, 
Xo.  1,260,  May  22,  1860;  United  States  patents,  Sellers,  Xo.  31,357, 
February  5,  1861,  and  Lincoln,  No.  64,117,  April  23,  1867.  In  Brown's 
patent,  Xo.  93,594,  August  10,  1869,  the  magic  lantern  was  applied  to 
the  moving  pictures,  and  Muybridge's  photos  of  trotting  horses  in  1872, 
followed  by  instantaneous  photography,  which  enabled  a  great  number  of 
views  to  be  taken  of  moving  objects  in  rapid  succession,  laid  the  founda- 
tion for  the  modern  art. 

In  Fig  200  is  shown  a  succession  of  instantaneous  photographs  of  a 
sportsman  shooting  a  glass  ball,  and  the  firing  of  a  disappearing  gun. 
A  multiplicity  of  views  extending  through  all  the  phases  of  these  move- 
ments, when  successively  presented  in  order,  before  a  magic  lantern  pro- 
jecting apparatus,  gives  to  the  eye  the  striking  semblance  of  real  move- 
ments. In  practice  these  views  are  taken  by  special  cameras,  and  are 
printed  on  long  transparent  ribbons  that  contain  many  hundreds,  and 
even  thousands  of  the  views.  Edison's  Kinetoscope  is  covered  by  patent 
Xo.  493,426,  March  14,  1893,  and  his  instrument  known  as  the  Vitascope, 
is  one  of  those  used  for  projecting  the  views  upon  a  screen.  In  Fig.  201 
a  similar  instrument,  called  the  Biograph,  is  shown,  in  which  the  seeming 
approach  of  the  locomotive  makes  those  who  witness  it  shudder  with 
the  apparent  danger. 

To  secure  the  best  results,  the  ribbon  with  its  views  should  remain 
with  a  figure  the  longest  possible  time  between  the  light  and  the  lens, 
and  the  shifting  to  the  next  view  should  be  as  nearly  instantaneous  as  pos- 
sible. This  problem  has  been  admirably  solved  by  C.  F.  Jenkins,  who,  in 
1894,  devised  means  for  accomplishing  it,  and  was  one  of  the  first,  if 
not  the  first,  to  successfully  project  the  views  on  a  large  screen  adapted 
to  public  exhibitions.  His  apparatus  is  shown  in  Fig.  202.  An  electric 
motor,  seen  on  the  left,  drives,  through  a  belt  and  pulley,  a  countershaft, 
and  also  through  a  worm  gear  turns  another  shaft  parallel  to  the  counter- 
shaft, and  bearing  a  sprocket  pulley,  whose  teeth  penetrate  little  marginal 
holes  in  the  ribbon  of  views,  and,  drawing  it  down  from  the  reel  above, 
deliver  it  to  the  receiving  reel  on  the  right.  On  the  end  of  the  counter- 
shaft, just  in  front  of  the  sprocket  wheel,  is  a  revolving  crank  pin  or 
spool,  which  intermittently  beats  down  the  ribbon  of  views,  causing  the 


298 


THE  PROGRESS   OF  IXl'EXTIOX 


latter  to  advance  through  the  vertical  guides  in  front  of  the  lens  by  a 
succession  of  jerks.    This  holds  each  view  for  a  maximum  period  before 


the  lens,  and  then  suddenly  jerks  the  ribbon  to  bring  the  next  view  into 
position.    In  the  Kinetoscope  the  animated  pictures  not  only  present  the 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  299 

movements  of  life,  but,  by  a  combination  with  the  phonograph,  the  audible 
speech,  or  music  fitting  the  occasion,  is  also  presented  at  tne  same  time, 
making  a  marvelous  simulation  of  real  life  to  both  the  eye  and  the  ear. 
Among  the  latest  promises  of  the  inventor  is  the  "Distance  Seer,"  or 
telectroscope,  which,  it  is  said,  enables  one  to  see  at  any  distance  over 
electric  wires,  just  as  one  may  telegraph  or  telephone  over  them.  The 


FIG.    202.— JENKINS     PHANTASCOPE. 

surprises  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  have  been  so  many  and  so  astounding, 
and  the  principles  of  this  invention  are  so  far  correct,  that  it  would  be 
dogmatic  to  say  that  this  hope  may  not  be  realized. 

To  the  sum  total  of  human  knowledge  no  department  of  science  has 
contributed  more  than  that  of  optics.  With  the  telescope  man  has  climbed 
into  the  limitless  space  of  the  heavens,  and  ascertained  the  infinite  vast- 
ness  of  the  universe.  The  flaming  sun  which  warms  and  vitalizes  the 
world,  is  found  more  than  ninety  millions  of  miles  away.  The  nearest  fixed 
stars  visible  to  the  naked  eye  are  more  than  200,000  times  the  distance 
of  the  sun,  and  their  light,  traveling  at  the  rate  of  190,000  miles  a  second, 
requires  more  than  three  years  to  reach  us.  Although  so  far  away, 
their  size,  distance,  and  constitution  have  been  ascertained,  and  their  move- 
ments are  scheduled  with  such  accuracy  that  the  going  and  coming  thereof 
are  brought  to  the  exactness  of  a  railroad  time  table.  The  astronomer 
predicts  an  eclipse,  and  on  the  minute  the  spheres  swing  into  line,  verify- 
ing, beyond  all  doubt,  the  correctness  of  the  laws  predicated  for  their  move- 


300  THE   PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 

merits.  The  wonders  of  the  telescope,  the  microscope,  and  the  spectro- 
scope are,  however,  but  suggestions  of  what  we  may  still  expect,  for 
science  abundantly  teaches  that  the  eye  may  yet  see  what  to  the  eye  is 
now  invisible,  and  that  light  exists  in  what  may  now  seem  darkness. 

No  man  may  say  with  certainty  what  thought  was  uppermost  in 
Goethe's  mind  when,  grappling  in  the  final  struggle  with  the  King  of 
Terrors,  he  exclaimed  "Mehr  licht !"  It  may  be  that  it  was  but  the  wish 
to  dispel  the  gathering  glocm  of  his  dimming  senses,  or  perchance  the 
unfolding  of  an  illuminated  vision  of  a  brighter  threshold,  but  certain  it 
is  that  no  words  so  voice  the  aspirations  of  an  enlightened  humanity  as 
that  one  cry  of  "More  light !" 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  301 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 
PHOTOGRAPHY. 

EXPERIMENTS  OF  WEDGEWOOD  AND  DAVY — NIEPCE'S  HELIOGRAPHY — DAGUERRE  AND 
THE  DAGUERREOTYPE — Fox  TALBOT  MAKES  FIRST  PROOFS  FROM  NEGATIVES— SIR 
JOHN  HERSCHEL  INTRODUCES  GLASS  PLATES— THE  COLLODION  PROCESS— SILVER 
AND  CARBON"  PRINTS — AMBROTYPES — EMULSIONS — DRY  PLATES — THE  KODAK 
CAMERA— THE  PLATINOTYPE — PHOTOGRAPHY  IN  COLORS — PANORAMA  CAMERAS— 
PHOTO-ENGRAVING  AND  PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHY—HALF  TONE  ENGRAVING. 

"Art's  proudest  triumph  is  to  imitate  nature." 

WHEN  nature  paints  she  does  so  with  the  brush  of  beauty, 
dipped  in  the  pigment  of  truth.  The  tender  affection  of 
a  ray  of  light  touches  the  heart  of  a  rose,  brings  a  blush 
to  its  cheek,  and  life,  becoming  the  bride  of  chemical  affinity, 
blooms  into  surpassing  beauty  and  loveliness.  Photography  is  closely 
allied  to  nature's  painting,  for  just  as  light  brings  into  existence  nature's 
living  beauties,  so  does  light  fix,  preserve,  and  perpetuate  these  beauties 
by  the  same  subtile  and  mysterious  agency  of  a  quickened  chemical  affin- 
ity. Photography  is  both  an  art  and  a  science,  and  as  such  is  both  beautiful 
and  true.  It  is  an  art  intimately  associated  with  the  tenderest  affections 
of  the  human  heart  in  keeping  alive  its  precious  memories.  By  it  the 
youthful  sweetheart  of  long  ago,  the  loving  face  of  the  departed  mother, 
and  the  cherished  form  of  the  dead  child  are  brought  back  to  us  in 
familiar  presence,  while  our  great  men  have  become  the  every-day  friends 
and  ideals  of  the  common  people.  What  an  enrichment  and  satisfac- 
tion it  would  have  added  to  our  lives  if  the  art  had  been  coeval  with  his- 
tory, and  all  the  world's  exalted  scenes  and  faces  had  come  to  us  through 
the  camera  with  the  knowledge  of  absolute  truth  and  fidelity.  But  not  only 
in  portraiture  is  photography  a  great  art,  for  it  catches  the  stately  pose 
of  the  mountain,  the  grandeur  of  the  sea,  the  beauty  of  the  forest,  or 
the  majesty  of  Niagara  Falls,  and  brings  them  all  home  to  us,  even  to 
the  vision  of  the  bed-ridden  invalid.  The  camera  alike  records  the 
secrets  of  the  starry  heavens  and  the  bacteria  of  the  microscopic  world. 
Hanging  on  the  tail  of  a  kite  it  photographs  the  face  of  mother  earth, 
and,  acting  quicker  than  the  lightning,  it  catches  and  defines  the  path 


302  THE  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 

of  that  erratic  flash.  It  plays  the  part  of  a  private  detective,  and  its 
testimony  .in  court  is  never  doubted.  The  architect,  engineer,  and  illus- 
trator find  it  in  constant  requisition.  By  the  aid  of  the  Roentgen  Rays,  it 
locates  a  bullet  in  a  wounded  soldier,  and  takes  a  picture  of  one's  spinal 
column.  In  fact,  it  sees  and  records  things  both  visible  and  invisible, 
acts  with  the  rapidity  of  thought,  and  is  never  mistaken. 

The  art  of  photography,  named  from  the  two  Greek  words  cpooTos 
•ypacprj  (the  writing  of  light),  is  a  comparatively  new  one,  and  belongs 
entirely  to  the  Nineteenth  Century.  It  was  known  to  the  ancient  alchem- 
ists that  "horn  silver"  (fused  chloride  of  silver)  would  blacken  on  ex- 
posure to  light,  but  there  was  neither  any  clear  understanding  of  the 
nature  of  this  action,  nor  any  application  made  of  it  prior  to  the  year  1800. 
We  now  know  that  the  art  of  photography  is  dependent  upon  the  actinic 
effect  of  certain  of  the  rays  of  the  spectrum  upon  certain  chemical  salts, 
notably  those  of  silver  and  chromic  acid,  in  connection  with  organic  mat- 
ter. The  rays  which  have  this  effect  are  the  blue  and  violet  rays  at  one 
end  of  the  spectrum,  and  even  invisible  rays  beyond  the  violet,  the  red 
and  yellow  rays  having  little  or  no  such  actinic  effect. 

That  which  made  photography  possible  for  the  Nineteenth  Century- 
was  the  philosophical  observation  of  Scheele,  in  1777,  upon  the  decom- 
posing influence  of  light  on  the  salts  of  silver,  and  the  superior  activity 
of  the  violet  rays  of  the  spectrum  over  the  others  in  producing  this 
effect.  In  1801  Ritter  proved  the  existence  of  such  invisible  rays  beyond 
the  violet  end  of  the  visible  spectrum  by  the  power  they  possessed  of 
blackening  chloride  of  silver. 

Earliest  Application  of  Principles. — The  first  attempt  to  render  the 
blackening  of  silver  salts  by  light  available  for  artistic  purposes,  was 
made  by  Wedge  wood  and  Davy  in  1802.  A  sheet  of  white  paper  was 
saturated  with  a  solution  of  nitrate  of  silver,  and  the  shadow  of  the  figure 
intended  to  be  copied  was  projected  upon  it.  Where  the  shadow  fell  the 
paper  remained  white,  while  the  surrounding  exposed  parts  darkened  un- 
der the  sun's  rays.  There  was,  however,  no  means  of  fixing  sucn  a 
picture,  and  in  time  the  white  parts  would  also  turn  black. 

Introduction  of  Camera. — The  camera  obscura,  a  very  old  invention 
designed  for  the  use  of  artists  in  copying  from  nature,  was  at  a  very  early 
period  brought  into  this  art,  but  it  was  found  that  the  chemicals  em- 
ployed by  Wedgewood  and  Davy  were  not  sufficiently  sensitive  to  be 
affected  by  its  subdued  light.  In  1814,  however,  Joseph  Nicephore 
Miepce,  of  Chalons,  invented  a  process  that  utilized  the  camera,  and  which 
was  called  "Heliography,"  or  sun  drawing.  In  1827  he  discarded  the 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  303 

use  of  silver  salts,  and  employed  a  resin  known  as  "Bitumen  of  Judea" 
(asphaltum).  A  plate  was  coated  with  a  solution  of  this  resin  and  ex- 
posed. The  light  acting  upon  the  plate  rendered  the  resin  insoluble  where 
exposed,  arid  left  it  soluble  under  the  shadows.  Hence,  when  treated  with 
an  oleaginous  solvent  the  shadows  dissolved  out,  and  the  lights,  repre- 
sented by  the  undissolved  resin,  formed  a  picture,  which  was  in  reality 
a  permanent  negative.  The  process,  however,  was  slow,  requiring  some 
hours. 

The  Daguerreotype. — In  1829  Niepce  and  Daguerre  became  partners, 
and  in  1839,  after  the  death  of  the  elder  Niepce,  the  process  named  after 
Daguerre  was  perfected  (British  patent  No.8,i94,of  1839).  He  abandoned 
the  resin  as  a  sensitive  material,  and  went  back  to  the  salts  of  silver.  He 
employed  a  polished  silver  surfaced  plate,  and  exposed  it  to  the  action  of 
the  vapors  of  iodine,  so  as  to  form  a  layer  of  iodide  of  silver  upon  the 
surface,  which  rendered  it  very  sensitive.  By  a  short  exposure  in  the 
camera  an  effect  was  produced,  not  visible  to  the  eye,  but  appearing 
when  the  plate  was  subjected  to  the  vapor  of  mercury.  This  process 
reduced  the  time  required  from  hours  to  minutes,  and  as  it  involved  the 
production  of  a  latent  image,  which  was  subsequently  developed  by  a 
chemical  agent,  it  represented  practically  the  beginning  of  the  photo- 
graphic art  as  practiced  to-day.  Daguerre  sought  also  to  permanently 
fix  his  pictures,  but  this  was  accomplished  only  imperfectly  until  1839, 
when  Sir  John  Herschel  made  known  the  properties  of  the  hyposulphites 
for  dissolving  the  salts  of  silver.  In  1844  Hunt  introduced  the  proto- 
sulphate  of  iron  as  a  developer. 

Production  of  Positive  Proofs  from  Negatives. — This  was  first  done 
by  Mr.  Fox  Talbot,  of  England,  between  1834  and  1839.  In  his  first 
communication  to  the  Royal  Society,  in  January,  1839,  ^  was  directed 
that  the  paper  should  be  dipped  first  in  a  solution  of  chloride  of  sodium, 
and  then  in  nitrate  of  silver,  which,  by  reaction,  produced,  on  the  face 
of  the  paper,  chloride  of  silver,  which  was  more  sensitive  to  the  light 
than  nitrate  of  silver.  The  object  to  be  reproduced  was  laid  in  contact 
with  the  prepared  paper,  and  exposed  to  the  light  until  a  copy  was 
produced  which  was  a  negative,  having  the  lights  and  shadows  reversed. 
A  second  sheet  was  then  prepared,  and  the  first  or  negative  impression 
was  laid  upon  it,  and  used  as  a  stencil  to  produce  a  second  print  which, 
by  a  reversal  of  the  lights  and  shadows,  formed  an  exact  reproduction 
of  the  original.  In  1841,  British  patent  No.  8,842  was  obtained  by  Mr. 
Talbot,  for  what  he  called  the  "Calotype,"  and  which  was  afterward 
known  as  the  "Talbotype."  A  ->».eet  of  paper  was  first  coated  with  iodide 


304  THE  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 

of  silver,  by  soaking  it  alternately  in  iodide  of  potassium  and  nitrate 
of  silver,  and  was  then  washed  with  a  solution  of  gallic  acid  containing 
nitrate  of  silver,  by  which  the  sensitiveness  to  light  was  increased.  An 
exposure  of  some  seconds  or  minutes,  according  to  the  brightness  of  the 
light,  produced  an  impression  upon  the  plate,  which,  when  treated  with 
a  fresh  portion  of  gallic  acid  and  nitrate  of  silver,  developed  into  the 
image.  After  being  fixed  it  formed  a  negative  from  which  any  num- 
ber of  prints  might  be  obtained.  The  Talbot  process  represented  a  great 
advance  in  this  art.  Glass  plates  to  retain  the  sensitive  film  were  in- 
troduced by  Sir  John  llerschel  in  1839,  and  were  a  great  improvement 
over  the  paper  negatives,  which  latter,  from  lack  of  transparency  and 
uniformity  in  texture,  had  prevented  fine  definition  and  sharpness  of 
outline.  Blue  printing  was  also  invented  by  Sir  John  Herschel  in  1842, 
and  he  was  the  first  to  apply  the  term  "negative"  in  photography.  In 
1848  M.  Niepce  de  St.  Victor,  a  nephew  of  Daguerre's  former  partner, 
applied  to  the  glass  a  film  of  albumen  to  receive  the  sensitive  silver  coating. 

Collodion  Process. — The  most  important  step  in  the  preparation  of  the 
negative  was  the  application  of  collodion.  This  is  a  solution  of  pyroxilin 
in  ether  and  alcohol,  which  rapidly  evaporates  and  leaves  a  thin  film  adher- 
ing to  the  glass.  M.  Le  Gray,  of  Paris,  was  the  first  to  suggest  collodion  for 
this  purpose,  but  Mr.  Scott  Archer,  of  London,  in  1851,  was  the  first  to 
carry  it  out  practically.  A  clean  plate  of  glass  is  coated  with  collodion 
sensitized  with  iodides  of  potassium,  etc.,  and  is  then  immersed  in  a  solu- 
tion of  nitrate  of  silver.  Metallic  silver  takes  the  place  of  potassium, 
forming  insoluble  iodide  of  silver  on  the  film.  The  plate  is  then  exposed 
and  the  latent  image  developed  by  an  aqueous  solution  of  pyrogallic  acid, 
or  protosulphate  of  iron.  When  sufficiently  developed,  the  plate  is 
washed,  and  the  image  fixed  by  dissolving  the  unacted-upon  iodide  of 
silver  with  a  solution  of  cyanide  of  potassium  or  hyposulphite  of  soda. 
This  completed  the  negative  or  stencil  from  which  the  positives  are  printed 
by  passing  rays  of  light  through  it  upon  sensitive  paper. 

The  Ambrotype  succeeded  the  Daguerreotype,  and  was  produced  by 
making  a  very  thin  negative  by  under  exposure  on  glass,  using  the  col- 
lodion process,  and,  after  drying,  backing  the  glass  with  black  asphaltum 
varnish  or  black  velvet,  causing  the  dense  portions  of  the  negative  to 
appear  white  by  reflected  light,  and  the  transparent  portions  black.  Such 
pictures  were  quickly  made,  and  were  much  in  vogue  forty  years  ago,  but 
are  now  obsolete.  A  modification  of  the  ambrotype,  however,  still  sur- 
vives in  what  is  known  as  the  "tin-type"  or  "ferro-type."  In  the  tin- 
type the  collodion  picture  is  made  directly  upon  a  very  thin  iron  plate, 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  305 

covered  with  black  enamel,  which  both  protects  the  plate  from  the  action 
of  the  chemicals  in  the  bath,  and  forms  the  equivalent  of  the  black  back- 
ground of  the  ambrotype. 

Sili'cr  Printing.- — A  sheet  of  paper,  previously  treated  with  a  solution 
of  chloride  of  sodium  and  dried,  is  sensitized  in  an  alkaline  bath  of  nitrate 
of  silver.  When  the  paper  is  exposed  under  a  negative,  the  light  through 
the  transparent  parts  of  the  negative  reduces  the  silver,  converting  the 
chloride,  it  is  supposed,  into  a  metallic  sub-chloride  of  silver  which  be- 
comes dark  or  black,  and  constitutes  the  main  portion  of  the  picture. 
The  image  is  then  fixed  by  dissolving  out  the  chloride  of  silver  unaltered 
by  light  in  a  bath  of  hyposulphite  of  soda.  After  fixation,  the  image  is 
well  washed  in  several  changes  of  water  to  eliminate  all  traces  of  the 
hyposulphite  of  soda  and  prevent  the  subsequent  fading  of  the  darkened 
portions  of  the  picture  and  the  yellowing  of  the  whites.  If  the  printed 
image  is  immediately  fixed,  it  will  have  a  red  color.  To  avoid  this  it  is 
washed  first  hv water  and  then  immersed  in  a  chloride  of  gold  toning  bath 
and  fixed. 

The  Platinot\pe  Process  is  one  in  which  potassium  chloroplatinite  and 
ferric  oxalate  are  converted  by  light  into  the  ferrous  state,  and  metallic 
platinum  is  reduced  when  in  contact  with  the  ferrous  oxalate  of  potash 
solution.  The  unacted  upon  portions  are  dissolved  out  by  dilute  hydro- 
chloric acid,  leaving  a  black  permanent  image.  This  process  is  character- 
ized by  simplicity,  sensitiveness  in  action,  permanence  of  print,  and  a 
peculiarly  soft  and  artistic  quality  in  the  picture.  British  Patent  No.  2,011, 
of  1873,  to  Willis,  is  the  first  disclosure  of  the  platinotype. 

Carbon  Printing  is  a  process  in  which  lampblack  or  other  indestructible 
pigment  is  mixed  with  the  chemicals  to  render  the  photograph  more  stable 
against  fading  from  the  gradual  decomposition  of  its  elements.  Mungo 
Ponton,  in  1838,  discovered  the  sensitive  quality  of  potassium  bichromate, 
which  led  up  to  carbon  printing.  Becquerel  and  Poitevin,  in  Paris,  in  1855, 
were  the  first  to  experiment  in  this  direction,  and  Fargier,  Swan,  and 
Johnson  were  successors  who  made  valuable  contributions. 

Emulsions. — A  photographic  emulsion  is  a  viscous  liquid,  such  as  col- 
lodion or  a  solution  of  gelatine,  containing  a  sensitive  silver  salt  with 
which  the  glass  plate  is  at  once  coated,  instead  of  coating  the  plate  with 
collodion  or  gelatine,  and  then  immersing  it  in  a  sensitizing  bath.  The  de- 
sirability of  emulsions  was  recognized  as  early  as  1850  by  Gustave  Le 
Gray,  and  in  1853  by  Gaudin.  Collodion  emulsion  with  bromide  of  silver 
was  invented  by  Sayce  and  made  known  in  1864.  In  1871  Maddox  pub- 
lished his  first  notice  of  gelatine  emulsion,  and  in  1873  the  gelatine  emul- 


306     '  THE  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 

sions  of  Burgess  were  advertised  for  sale.  In  1878  Mr.  Charles  Bennett 
brought  out  gelatino-bromide  emulsion  of  extreme  sensitiveness,  by  the 
application  of  heat,  and  from  this  time  gelatine  began  to  supersede  all 
other  organic  media. 

Dry  Plates  were  a  great  improvement  over  the  old  wet  process,  with 
its  tray  for  baths,  its  bottles  of  chemicals,  and  other  accessories.  Espe- 
cially was  this  the  case  with  out  of  door  work,  which  heretofore  had  in- 
volved the  carrying  along  of  much  unwieldy  and  inconvenient  parapher- 
nalia. With  the  dry  plate  process  only  the  camera  and  the  plates  were 
needed,  and  this  step  marks  the  beginning  of  the  spread  of  the  art  among 
amateurs,  and  the  great  snap-shot  era  of  photography,  growing  into  a  dis- 
tinct movement  about  the  year  1888,  has  since  spread  over  the  entire 
world.  The  first  practical  dry  plate  process  (collodion-albumen)  was 
published  in  1855  by  Dr.  J.  M.  Taupenot,  a  French  scientist.  Russell,  in 
1862;  Sayce,  in  1864;  Captain  Abney,  for  photographing  the  transit  of 
Venus  in  1874 ;  Rev.  Canon  Beechey,  of  England,  in  1875 ;  Prof.  John  W. 
Draper,  of  the  University  of  New  York,  and  the  Eastman  Walker  Com- 
pany, of  Rochester,  were  the  chief  promoters  of  dry  plate  photography. 
The  practical  introduction  began  about  1862  with  the  application  of  the 
alkaline  developer. 

The  progress  of  the  photographic  art  may  be  approximately  noted  as 
follows : 

Process.  Time  Required.  Introduced. 

Heliography    6  hours'  exposure 1814 

Daguerreotype    30  minutes'  exposure l%59 

Calotype  or  Talbotype 3  minutes'  exposure 1841 

Collodion  process 10  seconds'  exposure 1851 

Collodion  emulsion  (dry  plate) .  .15  seconds'  exposure 1864 

Gelatine  emulsion  (dry  plate) .  .      I  second   exposure    1878 

Mechanical  Development. — The  photographic  camera  is  but  an  adap- 
tation of  the  optical  principles  of  the  old  camera  obscura,  which  has  been 
credited  to  various  persons,  including  Roger  Bacon  in  1297,  Baptista 
Porta  about  1569,  and  others.  The  essential  elements  of  the  camera  obscura 
are  a  dark  chamber,  having  in  one  end  a  perforation  containing  a  lens,  and 
opposite  it  on  the  back  of  the  chamber  a  screen  upon  which  an  image  of 
the  object  is  projected  by  the  lens  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  it  to  be 
directly  traced  by  a  pencil.  The  photographic  camera,  introduced  by 
Daguerre  in  1839,  adds  to  the  camera  obscura  some  means  for  adjusting 
the  distance  between  the  lens  and  the  screen  on  which  the  image  falls. 
This  was  accomplished  by  making  the  dark  chamber  adjustable  in  length 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


307 


by  forming  it  in  two  telescopic  sections  sliding  over  each  other,  and  in 
later  years  by  the  well-known  bellows  arrangement.  A  luminous 
image  of  any  object  placed  in  front  of  the  lens  is  thrown  in  an  inverted 
position  upon  the  screen,  which  is  of  ground  glass,  to  permit  the  image 
to  be  seen  in  focusing.  When  the  proper  focus  on  this  ground  glass  is 
obtained  a  sensitive  plate  is  put  in  the  plane  of  this  screen  to  receive  the 
image. 

It  is  not  possible  to  trace  all  the  steps  of  development  of  the  camera 
which  have  brought  it  to  its  present  perfection.  Most  of  the  improve- 
ments have  had  relation  to  the  lens  in  correcting  chromatic  and  spherical 


FIG.  203. — KODAK. 

aberration,  and  in  shutters  for  regulating  exposure,  in  stops  for  shutting 
out  the  oblique  rays  and  holders  for  the  sensitive  plate. 

The  "Iris"  shutter,  so-called  from  its  resemblance  in  function  to  the 
iris  of  the  eye,  consists  of  a  series  of  tangentially  arranged  plates  which 
open  or  close  a  central  opening  symmetrically  from  all  sides. 

The  ordinary  camera  of  the  photographic  artist  is  too  familiar  an 
object  to  require  special  illustration.  It  has  been  looked  into  by  the  rich 
and  the  poor,  and  the  high  and  the  low,  all  over  the  whole  world.  Be- 
tween the  traveling  outfit,  and  the  "look  pleasant,  please!"  of  the  peri- 
patetic artist,  and  the  handsome  studios  of  the  cities,  it  is  hard  to  find  an 


308 


THE   PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 


individual  in  the  civilized  world  who  has  not  posed  before  its  lens. 
Through  its  agency  the  great  man  of  the  day  has  found  himself  in  evi- 
dence everywhere ;  the  country  maiden  has  many  times  experienced  the 
delicious  thrill  of  satisfied  vanity  as  she  posed  before  it,  and  the  super- 
stitious savage  is  paralyzed  with  fear  lest  the  mysterious  thing  should 
steal  his  soul. 

In  1851  the  first  instantaneous  views  were  made  by  Mr.  Cady  and  Mr. 
Beckers,  of  New  York,  and  also  by  Mr.  Talbot,  who  employed  as  a  flash 
light  a  spark  from  a  Leyden  jar.  In  1864  magnesium  light  was  employed 
by  Mr.  Brothers,  of  Manchester,  for  photographic  purposes,  and  about 


FIG.  2O4. — FOLDING  KODAK^ 

1876-8  Van  der  Weyde  made  use  of  the  electric  light  for  the  same  purpose. 

The  roller  slide,  or  roll  film,  was  invented  by  A.  J.  Melhuish,  in  Eng- 
land, in  1854  (British  patent  No.  1,139,  °f  I^54)-  The  films  were,  how- 
ever, of  paper.  In  1856  Norris  produced  sensitized  dry  films  of  collodion 
or  gelatine  (British  patent  No.  2,029,  of  1856).  In  later  years  apparatus 
for  utilizing  the  roll  film  has  been  greatly  improved  and  extensively  ap- 
plied by  Eastman,  Walker  &  Co.,  of  Rochester,  N.  Y. 

About  1888  a  new  thing  in  the  photographic  world  made  its  appear- 
ance. It  was  a  little  black  leather-covered  rectangular  box,  about  six 
inches  long,  with  a  sort  of  blind  eye  at  one  end  closed  by  a  cylindrical 


IN   THE  XIXETEEXTII   CENTURY.  3C9 

shutter,  substantially  as  seen  in  Fig.  203.  This  shutter  was  wound  up 
by  a  spring  operated  by  a  pull  cord.  In  the  back  of  the  box  was  a  film  or 
ribbon  of  sensitized  paper  wound  upon  one  spool,  and  unwinding  there- 
from and  winding  onto  another  spool,  and  being  distended  as  it  passed 
so  as  to  form  a  flat  surface  which  was  directly  in  rear  of  the  lens.  A 
thumb  piece  or  key  on  the  top,  and  a  push  button  on  the  side,  were  the 
only  suggestions  of  the  operative  mechanism  within.  When  the  button 
was  pressed  the  shutter  for  an  instant  passed  from  in  front  of  the  lens, 
and  as  quickly  covered  it  again,  but  in  this  brief  interval  an  image  had 
been  flashed  upon  the  sensitive  ribbon  or  film,  and  a  snap-shot  picture  was 
taken.  By  a  simple  movement  of  the  thumb  piece  or  key,  the  receiving 
roll  was  made  to  take  up  the  exposed  section  of  the  sensitive  film  and  bring 
another  section  into  the  range  of  the  lens,  for  a  repetition  of  the  opera- 
tion. This  little  instrument  was  slung  in  a  case  looking  like  a  cartridge 
box,  and  its  sensitive  roll  was  able  to  receive  100  successive  pictures. 
When  the  roll  was  exhausted,  it  was  removed  and  developed  in  a  dark 
room.  The  device  was  placed  upon  the  market  by  the  Eastman  Company, 
and  it  was  called  the  "Kodak."  The  advertisment  of  the  company,  that 
"You  press  the  button  and  we  do  the  rest,"  was  soon  realized  to  be 
founded  in  fact,  and  in  a  short  while  the  great  era  of  snap-shot  photog- 
raphy had  set  in.  To-day  this  form  of  camera  is  a  part  of  the  luggage  of 
every  tourist,  traveler,  scientist,  and  dilletante.  In  fact,  it  has  become  the 
familiar  scientific  toy  of  man,  woman,  and 
child,  interesting,  instructive,  and  useful  to 
all.  In  Fig.  204  is  shown  a  modern  form  of 
Kodak,  which  is  made  in  various  sizes  and  is 
foldable  for  compact  and  convenient  porta- 
bility. 

A  very  convenient  and  useful  development 
in  films  is  to  be  found  in  the  cartridge  sys- 
tem, by  which  the  film  may  be  placed  in  and 
removed  from  the  camera  in  broad  daylight. 
The  film  has  throughout  its  length  a  backing 
of  black  paper  which  extends  far  enough  FIG.  205.— HAND  PREMO. 

beyond  the  ends  of  the  film  to  allow  it  to  be 

unwound,  so  far,  in  making  connection  with  the  roll  holder,  without  ex- 
posing the  film  to  light,  and  also  to  allow  it  to  be  removed  without  ex- 
posure to  light,  after  all  the  exposures  have  been  made. 

Among  the  many  other  ingenious  and  useful  hand  cameras  may  be 
mentioned  the  "Premo,"  made  by  the  Rochester  Optical  Company,  and 


310  THE  PROGRESS   OF   INVENTION 

shown  in  Fig.  205.  The  "Fremo"  is  arranged  for  either  snap-shot  or 
time  exposure,  is  adapted  to  be  eitLer  held  in  the  hand  or  mounted  upon  a 
tripod,  and  is  furnished  for  use  either  with  glass  plates  or  roll  films.  In 
Fig.  206  is  shown  the  "Premo"  for  stereoscopic  work,  in  which  two  pict- 
ures are  taken  at  once,  a  sufficient  distance  from  each  other  to  produce  the 
effect  of  binocular  vision  and  give  the  appearance  of  relief  when  viewed 
through  the  stereoscope.  Brett's  British  patent  No.  1,629,  of  I^S3>  aP~ 
pears  to  be  the  earliest  description  of  a  stereoscopic  camera. 

There  have  been  2,000  United 
States  patents  granted  in  photography, 
most  of  which  have  been  taken  in  the 
past  thirty  years,  and  great  efficiency 
and  detail  in  both  the  chemical  and 
mechanical  branches  of  the  art  have 
been  obtained. 

The  useful  applications  of  the  art 
have  been  numerous  and  varied.  Por- 

FIG.  206.-STEREOSCOPIC  CAMERA.  *ai'  making  is  P™bably  the  largest 

field.  This  was  first  successfully 

accomplished  in  1839  by  Professor  Morse,  of  telegraph  fame,  working 
with  Prof.  John  W.  Draper,  of  the  University  of  New  York. 

Celestial  Photography  began  with  Prof.  Draper's  photograph  of  the 
moon  in  March,  1840,  and  Prof.  Bond,  of  Cambridge,  Mass.,  in  1851. 
In  1872  Prof.  Draper  photographed  the  spectra  of  the  stars,  and  in  1880- 
8 1  the  nebulae  of  Orion,  and  in  1887  the  Photographic  Congress  of  Astron- 
omers of  the  World,  organized  in  Paris,  began  the  work  of  photograph- 
ing the  entire  heavens.  In  late  years  notable  work  has  been  done  at  the 
Lick  Observatory  by  Prof.  Holden.  In  1861  Mr.  Thompson,  of  Wey- 
mouth,  photographed  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  and  Prof.  O.  N.  Rood,  of 
Troy,  N.  Y.,  the  same  year  described  his  application  of  it  to  the  micro- 
scope. In  1871  criminals  were  ordered  to  be  photographed  in  England, 
and  in  America  the  Rogues'  Gallery  became  an  institution  in  New  York  as 
early  as  1857,  ambrotypes  being  first  used.  In  1876  the  Adams  Cabinet 
for  holding  and  displaying  the  photos  was  invented.  To-day  the  New 
York  collection  amounts  to  nearly  30,000,  while  that  of  the  National 
Bureau  of  Identification  at  Chicago  approximates  100,000.  It  is  a  strik- 
ing illustration  of  the  law  of  compensation  that  the  counterfeiter  who 
invokes  the  aid  of  photography  to  copy  a  bank  note  is,  by  the  same 
agency  of  his  photo  in  the  Rogues'  Gallery,  identified  and  convicted. 

Photography  in  Colors  has  been  the  goal  of  artists  and  scientists  in 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


311 


this  field  for  many  years.  Robt.  Hunt,  in  England,  in  1843,  an(^  Edmond 
Becquerel,  in  France,  in  1848,  made  evanescent  photographs  in  colors,  but 
little  progress  was  made  until  about  the  last  decade  of  the  Nineteenth 
Century.  Franz  Veress  in  1890,  F.  E.  Ives  (United  States  patent  No.  432,- 
530,  July  22,  1890),  W.  Kurtz  (United  States  patent  No.  498,396,  May 
30,  1893),  Gabriel  Lippmann  in  1892  and  1896,  Ives  in  1892,  M.  Lumiere 
in  1893,  Dr.  Joly  in  1895,  M.  Villedien  Chassagne,  and  Dr.  Adrien,  M. 
Dansac  and  M.  Bennetto,  all  in  1897,  represent  active  workers  in  this  field. 
Among  recent  developments  of  the  camera  may  be  mentioned  the  wide 
angle  lens,  which  permits  larger  images  to  be  made  on  the  plate  from  small 


FIG.    2O7. — PANORAM-KODAK. 

near-by  objects,  and  the  telephotographic  camera,  which  gives  a  large 
image  of  remote  objects,  such  as  an  enemy's  fort,  and  the  panorama  cam- 
era, which  is  designed  to  cover  a  broad  field.  For  this  purpose  the  lens  is 
movably  mounted  for  a  semi-circular  swing,  and  the  image  is  flashed 
across  a  curved  film  in  the  case.  The  Eastman  Panoram-Kodak,  seen  in 
Fig.  207,  is  an  external  illustration  of  this  type,  and  in  Fig.  2O7A  is  shown 
a  sectional  view  of  another  make  of  panorama  camera  which  clearly  shows 
the  internal  construction. 

As  allied  branches  of  the  photographic  art,  photo-engraving,  photo- 
lithographing,  and  half-tone  engraving  are  important  developments  of  the 
Nineteenth  Century. 


312 


THE   PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 


Photo-engraving  is  a  process  by  means  of  which  photographs  may  be 
used  in  forming  plates  from  which  prints  in  ink  can  be  taken.  The  process, 
depends  upon  the  property  possessed  by  bichromate  of  potassium,  and 
other  chemicals,  of  rendering  insoluble  under  the  action  of  light,  gelatine 
or  some  similar  substance.  A  picture  is  thus  produced  on  a  metal  plate, 
and  the  blank  spaces  are  etched  out  by  acid,  leaving  the  lines  in  relief  as 
printing  surfaces.  When  the  operation  is  reversed,  and  only  the  darks  are 
etched  in  intaglio,  to  be  filled  with  ink,  as  in  copper-plate  engraving,  it  is 
called  photo-gravure.  Mungo  Ponton,  in  1839,  discovered  the  sensitive 
quality  of  a  sheet  of  paper  treated  with  bichromate  of  potash.  In  1840 
Becquerel  discovered  that  the  sizing  had  an  important  function,  and  Fox 

Talbot,  in  1853,  dis- 
covered and  utilized 
the  insolubility  of  gel- 
atine exposed  to  light 
in  presence  of  bichro- 
mate of  potash.  In 
1854  Paul  Pretsch  ob- 
served that  the  ex- 
posed parts  of  the  gel- 
atine did  not  swell  in 
water.  One  of  the 
first  suggestions  of 
photo-engraving  ap- 
pears in  the  British 
patent  Xo.  13,736.  of 

1851,  of  James  Palmer.  In  recent  times  great  perfection  in  details  has 
been  obtained  by  Mr.  Moss,  of  the  Photo-Engraving  Company,  and  others. 
The  Albert-type  and  Woodbury-type  are  early  modifications  of  this  art. 

In  photo-lithography  the  photograph  is  transferred  to  the  stone,  and 
the  latter  then  used  to  print  from,  as  in  lithography.  The  operation  con- 
sists: i,  in  making  the  photographic  negative;  2,  printing  with  it  upon 
transfer  paper  coated  with  gelatine  and  bichromate  of  potash ;  3.  the 
transfer  paper  is  then  given  a  coat  of  insoluble  fatty  transfer  ink  from  an 
inking  stone;  4,  all  ink  on  surfaces  not  reached  by  the  light  being  on  a 
soluble  surface  is  washed  off,  leaving  the  insoluble  lines  acted  upon  by 
light  forming  the  picture;  5,  the  washed  transfer  sheet  is  then  applied  to 
the  stone,  and  the  remaining  inked  lines  of  the  design  are  transferred  to  the 
stone ;  6,  the  stone  with  transferred  lines  will  now  receive  ink  from  the  ink 
rolls  on  these  lines,  and  repels  ink  from  all  other  surfaces,  which  latter  are 


FIG.    207A. — SECTIONAL   PLAN   OF   PANORAMIC   CAMERA. 


7.V  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


313 


made  repellent  by  being  kept  constantly  wet,  as  in  ordinary  lithography. 
The  first  attempts  in  this  art  were  by  Dixon,  of  Jersey  City,  and  Lewis,  of 
Dublin,  in  1841,  who  used  resins.  Joseph  Dixon,  in  1854,  was  the  first  to 
use  organic  matter  and  bichromate  of  potash  upon  stone  to  produce  a 
photo-lithograph.  In  1859  J-  W.  Osborne  patented  in  Australia,  and  in 
1861  in  the  United  States,  a  transfer  process  which  gave  such  great  im- 
petus to  the  art  that  he  may  be  considered  its  founder  and  chief  promoter. 
His  United  States  patents  are  No.  32,668,  June  25,  1861,  and  No.  33,172, 
August  27,  1 86 1. 

For  photo-lithography  only  line  drawing,  type  print,  or  script,  without 
any  smooth  shading,  can  be  employed.     The  most  extensive  application 


FIG.   208. — PHOTOGRAPH   GALLERY. 

of  photo-lithography  is  in  the  reproduction  of  the  Patent  Office  drawings, 
which  amount  to  about  60,000  sheets  weekly.  The  contracting  firm, 
which  is  probably  the  largest  in  the  world,  also  prints  each  week  by  photo- 
lithography 7,000  copies  of  the  Patent  Office  Gazette,  of  about  165  pages 
each,  including  both  drawings  and  claims,  and  also  reproduces  specifica- 
tions without  errors  or  proof  reading,  thus  saving  about  200  per  cent,  in 
cost  over  type  setting.  This  art  is  also  largely  employed  for  printing  maps, 
and  the  reproduction  of  the  pages  of  books  by  this  process  has  flooded  the 
stores  and  news  stands  with  cheap  literature. 


314 


THE  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 


Half-ltne  engraving  enables  a  photograph  to  be  reproduced  on  a  print- 
ing press,  and  for  faithfulness  in  reproduction  and  low  cost  has  revolution- 
ized the  art  of  illustrating,  as  nearly  all  books,  magazines,  and  newspapers 
are  now  illustrated  by  this  process.  Before  its  introduction  it  was  not  pos- 
sible to  reproduce  cheaply  in  printers'  ink  shaded  pictures  like  photo- 
graphs, brush  drawings,  paintings,  etc.  Half-tone  engraving  renders  it 
possible  to  thus  print  on  a  press,  with  printers'  ink,  reproductions  of 
photographs  or  any  shaded  picture,  in  which  the  soft  shadows  fade  away 
in  depth  to  white  by  an  imperceptible  tenuity.  It  does  so  by  breaking  up 


FIG.   209.— DIAGRAM   SHOWING  PRODUCTION  OF  DOT. 

the  soft  shadows  into  minute  stipples  which  form  inkable  printing  faces 
in  relief,  by  the  interposition  of  a  fine  reticulated  screen  between  the 
camera  lens  and  the  sensitive  plate.  This  forms  a  sort  of  stencil  negative 
through  which  the  copper  plate  is  etched,  which  latter  is  thus  converted 
into  a  relief  plate  whose  raised  surfaces  left  by  the  etching  may  receive 
ink  and  print  like  an  ordinary  relief  plate.  By  making  the  screen  lines 
very  fine  (80  to  250  meshes  to  the  inch),  the  visible  effect  of  the  shading 
is  so  far  preserved  that  the  photograph  may  be  reproduced  in  printers' 
ink  with  but  little  depreciation.  At  first,  bolting  cloth  was  used  for 
the  screen,  but  at  present  two  glass  plates,  with  closely  ruled  lines, 
laid  crosswise  upon  each  other,  form  the  screen.  A  character- 
istic distinction  of  half-tone  work  is  the  regularly  stippled  surface,  formed 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


315 


by  the  stenciling  out  of  a  portion  of  the  picture  by  the  screen,  which 
may  be  easily  seen  with  any  magnifying  glass.  It  is  called  half-tone 
process  because  half  of  the  tones  or  shadows  are  preserved,  the 
other  half  being  stenciled  out.  The 
use  of  gauze  screens  was  first  de- 
scribed by  Fox  Talbot  in  British 
patent  No.  565,  October  29,  1852. 

In  the  making  of  a  half-tone  neg- 
ative, the  photograph,  painting,  or 
wash  drawing  which  is  to  be  repro- 
duced, is  set  up  in  front  of  the  cam- 
era, which  is  arranged  on  an  in- 
clined runway,  as  seen  in  Fig.  208, 
and  an  exposure  is  made  on  a  plate 
prepared  by  the  wet  collodion  pro- 
cess (see  page  304).  The  shadows 
of  the  picture  are  broken  up  into 
stipples  or  dots  by  the  interposition 
of  a  cross-lined  screen  arranged  in 
the  plate  holder  between  the  lens 
and  the  sensitive  plate,  so  that  the 
picture  taken  is  "half-toned"  or  stippled.  Fig.  209  illustrates  the  relation 
of  the  parts,  in  which  the  picture  to  be  copied  is  seen  on  the  i  right, 

the  camera  lens  in 
the  middle,  and  the 
cross-lined  screen 
on  the  left  in  front 
of  the  sensitive 
plate. 

The  image  on  the 
plate  is  then  devel- 
oped and  fixed,  and 
in  order  to  secure  a 
printed  image  ex- 
actly like  the  copy 
as  to  right  and  left 
position  it  is  neces- 
sary to  reverse  the 
negative.  This  is 
done  by  cutting  the 


FIG.    210. — TRIMMING    FILM. 


FIG.    211.— STRIPPING    FILM. 


316 


THE  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 


film  square,  as  seen  in  Fig.  210,  and  then  peeling  it  off  the  glass,  as  seen  at 
Fig.  211,  and  transferring  it  to  another  glass  plate  in  reversed  relation. 
The  copper  printing  plate  is  produced  as  follows :  The  plate  is  first  pol- 
ished, as  seen  at  the  top  of  Fig.  213,  and  is  then  sensitized  with  a  solution 
of  organic  matter  and  an  alkaline  bichromate.  The  face  of  the  reversed 
negative  is  laid  flat  against  and  in  direct  contact  with  the  face  of  the  sensi- 
tized copper  plate,  and  tightly  held  thereto  by  the  screw  clamps  of  the  half 
tone  printing  frame.  The  printing  on  the  sensitized  copper  face  through 
the  stippled  or  half-tone  negative  is  then  effected  either  by  day- 
light or  by  the  electric  light.  The  application  of  the  electric  light  for 
this  purpose  is  shown  in  Fig.  212.  The  copper  plate  is  then  taken 
out  and  subjected  to  the  three  lower  operations  seen  in  Fig.  213.  It 
is  first  developed  junder  a  stream  of  water  from  a  faucet,  seen  on  the  left, 

and  is  then  taken  in  a  pair  of 
pliers  and  held  over  a  gas  stove, 
as  seen  at  the  bottom,  to  "burn- 


FIG.  212.. — PRINTING  BY  ELECTRIC  LIGHT. 

in"  the  image,  and  then  placed  in  a  tray  containing  an  etching  bath  of 
chloride  of  iron  seen  on  the  right,  by  which  the  copper  is  eaten  away 
around  the  little  stipples,  and  the  latter,  representing  the  half  tones  of  the 
original  picture,  are  left  raised,  or  in  relief,  to  form  the  inkable  surfaces  of 
the  printing  plate.  So  fine  are  these  stipples,  however,  that  the  picture  is 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


317 


to   the   eye   perfectly    reproduced.      The   several    views    illustrating   this 
process  are  made  in  this  way,  the  lines  of  the  reticulated  screen  being  175 


to  the  inch.  The  plate  is  next  subjected  to  the  mechanical  operation  of 
"routing  out"  or  cutting  away  the  undesirable  portions  by  a  routing 
machine,  seen  in  Fig.  214.  It  then  receives  further  mechanical  treatment 


318 


THE  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 


to  correct  imperfections  and  finish  its  edges,  and  is  finally  mounted  upon  a 
block  ready  for  the  printer. 

The  most  striking  application  made  of  photography  in  recent  years 
is  in  the  production  of  so-called  moving  pictures,  in  which  a  series  of 
photographic  figures  thrown  upon  the  screen  have  all  the  motion  of  ani- 
mated scenes  which  have  been  caught  and  imprisoned  by  the  swiftly 


FIG.   214. — ROUTER  AT  WORK  ON    HALF-TONE  PLATE. 

acting  and  never  failing  memory  of  the  camera,  to  be  again  turned  loose 
in  active '  play  through  the  Kinetoscope  or  Biograph.  Perhaps  the 
most  valuable  contribution  to  science  at  the  end  of  the  century  made  by 
this  art  is  in  surgery,  for  photographing  through  opaque  bodies  by  the 
aid  of  the  Roentgen  rays,  but  for  the  latter  subjects  treatment  in  separate 
chapters  must  be  reserved. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  319 


CHAPTER  XXV. 
THE  ROENTGEN  OR  X-RAYS. 

GEISSLER  TUBES — VACUUM  TUBES  OF  CROOKES,  HITTORF  AND  LENARD — THE  CATHODE 
RAY — ROENTGEN'S  GREAT  DISCOVERY  IN  1895 — X-RAY  APPARATUS — SALVIONI'S 
CRYPTOSCOPE — EDISON'S  FLUOROSCOPE — THE  FLUOROMETER — SUN  BURN  FROM  X- 
RAYS — USES  OF  X-RAYS. 

THE  majority  of  people  have  been  accustomed  to  regard  light 
as  something  to  be  excluded  and  controlled  by  opaque  screens 
just  as  effectively  as  rain  is  excluded  by  a  tin  roof,  or  cold  is 
kept  out  by  a  brick  wall.  The  shady  retreat  furnished  relief 
from  the  garish  day  to  the  primitive  man,  and  the  opaque  shades  and 
Venetian  blinds  of  modern  civilization  exclude  the  excess  of  light  at  our 
windows.  Sunshine  and  shadow  have,  in  fact,  been  correlated  conditions 
to  the  ordinary  observation  of  man  since  time  began.  The  last  few  years 
of  the  Nineteenth  Century,  however,  were  to  witness  the  discovery  of  a 
new  kind  of  light  ray  which,  in  its  behavior,  subverted  all  previous  con- 
ception of  the  nature  and  action  of  light.  It  was  a  species  of  electric 
light,  which  we  are  accustomed  to  regard  as  brilliant,  but  this  light  ray 
was  invisible  to  the  eye.  It  could  not  be  refracted  or  bent  from  its  course 
by  a  prism  or  lens,  and  it  was  so  subtle,  penetrating  and  insidious,  that 
it  could  not  be  barred  out  like  sunlight,  but  passed  readily  through  many 
opaque  substances,  such  as  wood,  flesh  tissue,  paper  (even  a  book  of 
1,000  pages),  as  well  as  some  of  the  metals.  The  lighter  the  weight  of 
the  substance,  or  less  its  density,  the  easier  these  rays  passed  through  it, 
or  the  more  transparent  such  bodies  were  to  the  rays.  The  heavier 
metals,  like  platinum,  gold  and  lead,  were  practically  opaque,  or  allowed 
none  of  the  rays  to  pass  through  them,  while  the  very  light  metal  alu- 
minum was  about  as  transparent  to  these  rays  as  was  glass  to  ordinary 
light,  and  for  that  reason  this  metal  could  form  window  panes  for  such 
rays,  while  excluding  other  light.  Most  organic  substances  are  trans- 
parent or  semi-transparent  to  these  rays,  and  hence  such  rays  readily 
pass  through  the  body  of  an  individual,  being  only  intercepted  in  part 
by  the  denser  parts  of  the  anatomy,  such  as  the  bones,  so  that  a  man 
in  such  light  no  longer  casts  a  well-defined  shadow  of  his  outline,  but 


320  THE  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 

the  shadow  disclosed  is  that  of  a  skeleton,  by  virtue  of  the  greater 
density  of  the  bones.  Any  object  of  higher  density,  such  as  a  ring  upon 
the  finger,  clearly  establishes  its  shadow  by  virtue  of  its  greater  density. 
Likewise,  any  foreign  object  in  the  body,  such  as  a  bullet  from  a  gun-shot 
wound,  or  a  foreign  body  accidentally  swallowed,  is  perfectly  disclosed 
and  located  by  the  shadow  which  it  casts.  As  these  light  rays  have  been 
characterized  as  invisible,  it  may  be  difficult  to  understand  how  invisible 
rays  can  cast  a  visible  shadow,  and  it  should  be  here  stated  that  when 
these  unseen  rays  fall  upon  certain  chemical  substances  the  latter  are 
made  to  glow  with  a  peculiar  fluorescence,  and  a  screen  made  of  such 
fluorescing  materials  will  light  up  where  the  rays  fall  upon  it,  and  re- 
main dark  at  the  points  where  the  rays  are  intercepted  by  a  substance 
opaque  to  such  rays,  thus  outlining  a  shadow. 

Not  only  do  these  light  rays  in  passing  through  the  body  tissues 
(transparent  to  them)  cast  a  shadow  of  the  bones  or  any  foreign  objects, 
but  by  the  application  of  photography  to  these  shadow  pictures  a  species 
of  photograph,  called  a  radiograph,  or  skiagraph,  may  be  taken,  and  thus 
any  foreign  body,  such  as  a  bullet,  may  be  definitely  located  in  the  human 
body  and  quickly  extracted,  without  the  element  of  doubt  which  beset  the 
old  method  of  diagnosis,  which,  at  best,  was  only  intelligent  guessing. 
Not  only  are  foreign  bodies  so  located,  but  the  fractures  of  the  bones 
may  also  be  accurately  observed,  studied  and  adjusted.  Stone  in  the 
bladder  may  be  discovered,  and  the  condition  and  movements  of  the  heart 
and  lungs  ascertained. 

This  new  kind  of  light  ray  was  discovered  November  8,  1895,  by 
Prof.  W.  C.  Roentgen,  of  the  Royal  University  of  Wurzburg,  and  was 
named  by  him  the  "X-Ray,"  probably  because  the  letter  x  in  algebraic 
formula  represents  the  unknown  quantity,  and  the  hitherto  unknown  and 
elusive  quality  of  this  light  suggested  to  Prof.  Roentgen  this  appropriate 
name. 

As  before  stated,  a  peculiar  quality  of  the  X-Rays  is  that  they  are  not 
visible  to  the  eye.  A  beam  of  X-Rays,  thrown  into  a  dark  chamber 
through  an  aluminum  window,  would  produce  no  illumination  whatever 
in  the  room,  but  such  rays  would  still  penetrate  the  room,  and  if  a 
fluorescing  screen  were  placed  in  their  path  it  would  instantly  light  up. 
It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  these  subtle  rays  should  have  so  long 
eluded  the  observation  of  the  scientist. 

A  brief  sketch  of  the  conditions  leading  up  to  the  discovery  of  the 
rays  is  necessary  to  a  proper  understanding  of  the  same. 

Every  student  of  physics  remembers  the  old-time  lecture  room  ex- 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


321 


periments  in  which  the  Geissler  tubes,  with  their  beautiful  play  of  colored 
lights,  illustrated  the  action  of  the  electrical  discharge  from  tlie  glass 
plate  machine  or  the  Ruhmkorff  coil,  on  rarified  gaseous  media.  Elec- 
trical experiments  in  high  vacua  by  Sir  William  Crookes,  and  by  Hittorf 
and  Lenard,  have  greatly  added  to  the  present  knowledge  in  this  field, 
and  paved  the  way  to  the  discovery  of  Prof.  Roentgen.  It  was  known 
that  a  vacuum  tube,  variously  called  after  the  names  of  these  scientists,  as 
a  Crookes,  Hittorf,  or  Lenard  tube,  having  platinum  electrodes  sealed  in 
its  ends,  would,  under  the  static  discharge  of  electricity  through  it,  give 
peculiar  manifestations  of  light.  One  of  the  conducting  terminals  of 
such  tubes  was  called,  in  electrical  parlance,  the  "anode,"  from  the  Greek 
ava  (up)  odos  (way),  meaning  the  wray  up  or  into  the  tube,  and 
referring  to  the  entering  path  of  an  electric  current,  or  its  positive  pole ; 
while  the  other  was  called  the  "cathode,"  from  Kara  (down),  odos 
(way),  meaning  the  way  down  or  out,  and  referring  to  the  outgoing 
path  of  an  electric  current,  or  its  negative  pole.  When  such  glass  tube, 
partially  exhausted  of  air,  received  through  its  anode  and  cathode  termi- 
nals a  discharge  of  static  electricity,  a  peculiar  manifestation  of  light  is 
seen  between  the  anode  and  cathode  terminals.  At  the  anode  it  appears 
as  a  peach  blossom  glow, 
and  at  the  cathode  it  ap- 
pears as  a  bluish  green 
light.  If  the  exhaustion 
of  the  air  in  the  tube 
is  carried  very  high,  ap- 
proaching a  perfect 
vacuum,  or  to  about  one 
millionth  of  the  atmos- 
pheric pressure,  the  glow 
light  at  the  anode  disap- 
pears, and  that  at  the 
cathode  increases  until  it 
fills  the  entire  tube  with 
its  characteristic  light. 

This  is  called  the  "cathode  ray,"  or  "cathodic  ray,"  an  illustration  of  which 
is  given  in  Fig.  215,  where  the  cathode  ray  is  seen  in  a  Crookes  tube  ema- 
nating from  the  negative  pole  N  or  cathode  a,  and  casting  a  shadow  of 
the  Maltese  cross  b  into  the  end  of  the  tube,  as  seen  at  d. .  Many  of  the 
characteristics  of  the  cathode  ray  had  been  observed  prior  to  Prof. 
Roentgen's  discovery,  which,  briefly  stated,  grew  out  of  the  following 


FIG.  215. — THE  CATHODE  RAY. 


322 


THE   PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 


observation :  He  noticed  that  when  a  vacuum  tube  illumined  by  the 
cathode  ray  was  completely  masked  or  covered  up  by  an  external  shield 
of  black  paper,  so  that  no  illumination  of  the  tube  was  visible  to  the  eye, 
there  still  passed  through  it  certain  subtle  rays  of  light,  invisible  to  the 
eye,  but  which  would  instantly  illuminate  a  sheet  of  paper  coated  on  one 
side  with  barium  platino-cyanide,  even  at  a  distance  of  two  yards  or 
more,  and  that  these  invisible  light  rays  were  capable  of  passing  through 
many  substances  opaque  to  ordinary  light.  He  also  discovered  that  these 
rays  could  be  made  to  take  a  shadow  photograph  on  a  sensitive  plate 
without  even  exposing  the  plate  in  the  usual  way,  the  X-Rays  passing 
freely  through  the  opaque  ebonite  or  pasteboard  screen  of  the  plate 
holder.  It  did  not  take  the  scientific  world  long  to  realize  the  immense 
importance  of  this  discovery,  and  to-day  X-Ray  apparatus  constitutes 
the  greatest  addition  to  the  surgeon's  resources  that  has  ever  been  made 
in  the  form  of  mechanical  appliances,  since  by  its  aid  any  foreign  body 
in  the  human  frame  of  greater  density  than  the  flesh  may  be  at  once 
definitely  located  and  extracted,  or  any  fracture  of  the  bone  disclosed,  as 
the  case  may  be.  In  the  illustration,  Fig.  216,  is  shown  an  X-Ray 


FIG.  2l6. — X-RAY  PHOTO  OF  HAND,  SHOWING  DISEASED  THUMB  BONE. 

photograph  of  the  hand  of  a  gentleman  whose  thumb  bone  has  been  de- 
stroyed by  disease. 

Soon  after  the  announcement  of  Prof.  Roentgen's  discovery,  ap- 
paratus was  devised  for  seeing  with  the  naked  eye  the  image  formed  by 
the  shadow  of  the  X-Rays.  Prof.  Salvioni  constructed  such  a  device  and 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


323 


described  it  before  the  Rome  Medical  Society  as  early  as  February  8, 
1896.  He  called  it  the  "cryptoscope."  It  was  quite  a  simple  affair,  and 
consisted  of  an  observation  tube  with  a  lens,  having  in  front  of  it  a  screen 
of  fluorescing  material,  such  as  platino-cyanide  of  barium.  When  the 
object  to  be  examined,  the  hand,  for  instance,  was  held  in  front  of  the 
fluorescing  screen,  and  the  X-Rays  from  the  vacuum  tube  fell  upon  the 
hand,  located  between  the  vacuum  tube  and  the  fluorescing  screen,  a 
shadow  of  the  bones  was  cast  on  the  fluorescing  screen  by  virtue  of  the 
greater  density  of  the  bones,  which  shadow  was  clearly  discernible  to 
the  eye  at  the  end  of  the  observation  tube.  By  this  device  one  was  able 


FIG.  217. — EDISON'S  SURGEON'S  X-RAY  APPARATUS. 

to  see  his  own  bones  through  the  flesh.  A  device,  invented  by  Edison  and 
called  the  "fluoroscope,"  was  constructed  on  substantially  the  same  prin- 
ciple. This  used  a  tapered  observation  tube  like  the  old-fashioned  stereo- 
scope box,  which  had  at  its  outer  wide  end  the  fluorescing  screen,  and 


324  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

its  small  end  fashioned  to  fit  the  forehead  and  strapped  thereto  so  as  to 
enclose  both  eyes.  This  device  is  shown  in  Fig.  217,  in  which  an  X-Ray 
vacuum  tube  is  housed  in  a  wooden  box,  on  which  the  hand  of  the  pa- 
tient, or  other  part  to  be  viewed,  is  laid,  the  X-Rays  passing  readily 
through  the  top  of  the  box  and  casting  a  shadow  of  the  bones  of  the 
hand,  or  foreign  body,  on  the  fluorescing  screen  of  the  observation  tube. 
Edison's  experiments  also  led  him  in  constructing  his  fluorescing  screen, 
after  testing  a  great  number  of  substances,  to  select  the  chemical  known 
as  calcium  tungstate,  instead  of  the  barium  platino-cyanide,  since  the 
calcium  tungstate  appeared  to  give  better  results  in  fluorescing.  Many 
Other  chemicals  can  be  used,  however,  for  making  the  fluorescing  screen, 
such  as  the  sulphides  of  calcium,  barium  and  strontium.  A  recently  dis- 
covered and  powerful  fluorescing  substance  is  the  double  fluoride  of  am- 
monium and  uranium,  discovered  by  Dr.  Mecklebeke.  Such  fluorescing 
materials  are  spread  in  a  thin  layer  on  the  side  of  the  screen  next  to  the 
observer  in  the  viewing  apparatus. 

It  is  not  to  be  understood  that  such  viewing  apparatus  is  necessary 
in  taking  a  surgical  photograph.  In  such  case  only  the  X-Ray  tube, 
means  for  exciting  it,  the  patient's  body,  and  the  sensitive  photographic 
plate,  are  essential  factors,  the  patient's  limb  or  body  being  interposed 
between  the  light  tube  and  photographic  plate,  so  as  to  cause  the  X-Rays 
emanating  from  the  tube  to  cast  the  shadow  of  the  patient's  bones,  the 
bullet  in  his  body,  or  other  foreign  object,  directly  upon  the  photographic 
plate,  the  sensitive  and  conscious  plate  obeying  the  will  of  these  subtle 
rays,  and  receiving  the  impress  of  their  actinic  effect  under  conditions 
which  it  denies  to  ordinary  light. 

For  exciting  the  vacuum  tube  any  electrical  machine  capable  of 
throwing  a  series  of  sparks  across  a  gap  of  about  five  inches  is  sufficient. 
Various  electrical  machines  may  be  used  for  this  purpose,  the  Holtz,  or 
the  Wimshurst  glass  plate  machine,  the  Ruhmkorff,  or  induction  coil,  or 
even  the  high  frequency  transformer.  A  good  example  of  a  complete 
X-Ray  apparatus  is  that  in  use  at  the  Army  Medical  Museum  at  Wash- 
ington, made  by  Otis  Clapp  &  Son,  and  shown  in  Fig.  218.  The  electrical 
generator  is  of  the  Wimshurst  type,  and  is  shown  in  a  large  glass-enclosed 
cabinet  on  the  right.  The  glass  disks  within  are  rotated  either  by  a  small 
electric  motor  shown  on  the  floor,  or  by  a  hand  crank  above.  The  X-Ray 
tube,  of  globular  or  bulb  shape,  is  shown  just  above  the  patient's  hip,  and 
its  opposite  poles  are  connected  by  wires  to  the  opposite  electrodes  of 
the  generator.  When  the  currrent  is  switched  on  by  the  operator,  the 
bulb  is  illuminated  with  the  cathode  rays,  and  the  X-Rays,  proceeding 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


325 


therefrom  through  the  clothing  and  flesh  of  the  patient,  cast  a  shadow 
of  the  patient's  hip  joint  upon  the  photographic  plate  placed  on  the  cot 
beneath  the  patient. 


326  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

In  the  effort  to  secure  greater  sharpness  in  the  image  cast  by  the  X- 
Rays,  various  forms  of  vacuum  tubes  have  been  devised.  That  shown  in 
Fig.  219  represents  one  of  the  most  important  improvements.  K  is  the 
cathode  plate,  formed  of  a^ipncave  disk  of  aluminum,  which  focuses  the 
rays  at  a  point  near  the  celiler  of  the  bulb.  At  this  point  a  plate  of  plati- 
num A,  which  metal  allows  practically  none  of  the  X-Rays  to  pass  through 
it,  is  mounted  on  the  anode  in  such  an  angular  position  that  it  gathers  the 


FIG.  2IQ. — X-RAY  FOCUS  TUBE. 

focused  rays  and  reflects  them  through  the  side  of  the  tube.  They  thus 
make  a  sharper  shadow  than  when  radiating  from  the  more  extended  sur- 
face of  the  glass. 

In  Fig.  220  is  shown  an  X-Ray  tube,  as  applied  for  locating  a 
foreign  body  in  the  brain  cavity,  in  which  view  the  patient's  head  is 
interposed  between  the  X-Ray  tube  .and  the  fluorescing  screen,  or  photo- 
graphic plate,  as  the  case  may  be;  while  Fig.  221  shows  the  applica- 
tion of  the  same  devices  to  the  body.  In  both  these  views  the  par- 
ticular form  of  X-Ray  apparatus  is  known  as  the  "Fluorometer,"  made 
under  the  Dennis  Patent,  No.  581,540,  April  27,  1897,  and  it  is  de- 
vised with  reference  to  more  accurately  locating  the  foreign  object  by 
its  shadow,  for  which  purpose  adjustable  bracket-sights,  seen  in  Fig.  221 
on  opposite  sides  of  the  body,  are  provided  for  bringing  the  X-Rays  into 
proper  alignment  for  projecting  the  shadow  of  the  foreign  body  in  true 
indicative  position  on  the  fluorescing  screen,  while  a  cross  hatched  grat- 
ing behind  the  body,  graduated  in  aliquot  spaces  of  an  inch,  furnishes  a 
measured  field,  and  forms  an  easy  and  quick  means  of  platting  the  position 
of  said  object.  In  the  position  of  parts  in  the  two  figures  the  horizontal 
line,  on  which  the  foreign  object  lies,  would  be  determined,  but  it  would 
not  indicate  how  deep  in  the  object  was,  i.  c.,  whether  it  was  in  the  middle, 


IN   THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY. 


327 


or  on  one  side.  To  determine  this  the  fluorescing  screen  and  grating  are 
placed  under  the  patient,  and  the  X-Ray  tube  above,  and  the  vertical  line 
of  the  object  is  thus  obtained.  Both  the  vertical  line  and  horizontal  line 
having  been  obtained,  it  will  be  obvious  that  the  foreign  object  will  lie  at 
the  intersection  of  these  two  lines,  which  establishes  for  the  .surgeon  its 
definite  location. 

It  has  been  observed  by  Prof.  Elihu  Thomson,  and  also  by  Dr.  Kolle, 
that  the  X-Rays  are  not  absorbed  and  destroyed  by  the  sensitive  chemi- 


FIG.   220. — LOCATING  A  FOREIGN  BODY  IN   THE  BRAIN. 

cals  of  a  single  photographic  plate,  but  so  potent  and  penetrating  is  their 
influence  that  the  rays  pass  through  and  produce  an  image  on  a  number 
of  plates,  placed  one  behind  the  other,  thus  affording  means  for  multi- 
plying the  image  at  one  exposure. 

Among  other  uses  of  the  X-Ray  may  be  mentioned  its  capacity  to 
detect  spurious  from  genuine  gems,  the  diamond  giving  a  distinct  color 
from  its  imitations,  as  do  also  most  other  precious  stones. 

A  peculiar  physiological  effect  of  the  X-Rays  is  their  capacity  to  pro- 


328 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


duce  a  severe  effect  on  the  skin,  somewhat  resembling  sunburn.  Such 
result,  produced  by  long  and  continued  exposure,  has  sometimes  so  de- 
ranged the  skin  tissues  as  to  make  sores  that  resulted  in  the  entire  loss 
of  and  renewal  of  the  skin. 

The  discovery  of  the  X-Ray  by  Prof.  Roentgen  may  be  fairly  con- 
sidered one  of  the  most  wonderful  scientific  achievements  of  the  century, 


FIG.  221. — X-RAY  APPARATUS  APPLIED  TO  THE  BODY. 

and  his  first  memoir  in  1895  is  so  full,  clear  and  exact,  as  to  have  left 
very  little  more  to  be  said  about  it.  It  is  to-day,  as  it  was  found  by  him 
in  1895,  the  same  mysterious,  unseen,  but  positive  force,  a  species  of 
electrical  energy  without  a  domicile,  and  needing  no  conductor,  a  form 
of  light  passing  through  closed  doors,  invisible  itself,  and  yet  lighting  up 
certain  substances  with  a  halo  of  glory,  and  radically  changing  and  de- 
composing others.  Rivaling  the  sun  in  actinic  power,  and  writing  its 
autograph  with  an  unseen  hand,  it  is  truly  called  the  X-,  or  unknown,  ray. 


IN   THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY.  329 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 
GAS  LIGHTING. 

EARLY  USE  OF  NATURAL  GAS — COAL  GAS  INTRODUCED  BY  MURDOCH— WIN SOR  ORGAN- 
IZES FIRST  GAS  COMPANY  IN  1804 — MELVILLE  IN  UNITED  STATES  LIGHTS  BEAVER- 
.TAIL  LIGHTHOUSE  WITH  GAS  IN  1817 — LOWE'S  PROCESS  OF  MAKING  WATER  GAS 
— ACETYLENE  GAS — CARBURETTED  AIR — PINTSCH  GAS — GAS  METER — OTTO  GAS 
ENGINE — THE  WELSBACH  BURNER. 

FOR  many  centuries  the  going  down  of  the  sun  marked  a  cessa- 
tion of  man's  labors,  and  among  his  first  efforts  toward  in- 
^^  creasing  his  efficiency  was  the  prolongation  of  his  hours  of 

vision  by  artificial  illumination.  Beginning  with  a  shell  for  a 
lamp,  a  rush  for  a  wick,  and  the  fat  of  his  game  for  oil,  the  first  crude 
lamp  was  made,  and  while  it  shed  but  a  feeble  and  flickering  light,  man 
ceased  to  go  to  sleep  with  the  fowls  and  the  beasts,  and  continued  his 
labors  and  amusements  into  the  night.  For  many  centuries  the  lamp  held 
its  exclusive  sway,  and  probably  will  ever  find  a  useful  place ;  but  with  the 
discovery  of  coal  gas  and  its  practical  manufacture  the  nights  of  the 
Nineteenth  Century  have  been  made  to  represent  illuminated  illustrations 
of  the  world's  progress.  Coal  gas  can  hardly  be  claimed  as  an  invention, 
however,  for  natural  gas  from  the  bowels  of  the  earth  had  been  observed 
and  used  in  China  from  time  immemorial.  The  holy  fires  of  Baku  on  the 
shores  of  the  Caspian  and  elsewhere  were  also  thus  supplied.  The  first 
steps  toward  its  artificial  production  began  in  the  latter  part  of  the  Seven- 
teenth Century  with  Dr.  Clayton.  Bishop  Watson,  in  1750,  and  Lord 
Dundonald,  in  1786,  also  experimented  with  combustible  gas  made  from 
coal,  but  the  man  who  more  than  any  other  contributed  to  its  practical 
manufacture  and  introduction  was  Mr.  Murdoch,  of  Redruth,  Cornwall, 
England.  In  1792  Murdoch  erected  a  gas  distilling  apparatus,  and  lighted 
his  house  and  offices  by  gas  distributed  through  service  pipes.  In  1798 
he  so  lighted  the  steam  engine  works  of  Boulton  &  Watt,  at  Soho,  near 
Birmingham  ;  and  in  1802  made  public  illumination  of  the  works  by  this 
means  on  the  occasion  of  a  public  celebration.  In  1801  Le  Bon,  of  Paris, 
used  a  gas  made  from  wood  for  lighting  his  house.  In  1803-4  Frederick 


330 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


Albert  Winsor  lighted  the  Lyceum  Theatre,  took  out  a  British  patent  No. 
2,764,  of  1804,  for  lighting  streets  by  gas,  and  established  the  National 
Light  and  Heat  Company,  which  was  the  first  gas  company.  In  1804-5 
Murdoch  lighted  the  cotton  factory  of  Phillips  &  Lee  at  Manchester,  the 
light  being  estimated  as  equal  to  3,000  candles,  and  this  was  the  largest 
undertaking  up  to  that  date.  In  1807  Winsor  lighted  one  side  of  Pall 
Mall,  London,  and  this  was  the  first  street  lighting.  A  disastrous  ex- 
plosion occurred  shortly  afterwards,  and  such  eminent  men  as  Sir 
Humphrey  Davy,  Wollaston,  and  Watt  expressed  the  opinion  that  it 
could  not  be  safely  used ;  but  the  so-called  "coal  smoke"  had  come  to 
stay,  and  in  1813  Westminster  Bridge  and  the  Houses  of  Parliament 
were  lighted  with  gas.  In  1815  there  was  general  adoption  of  gas  in  the 
streets  of  London,  and  shortly  afterwards  in  Paris.  In  1805-6  David 
Melville,  of  Newport,  R.  I.,  invented  a  gas  apparatus  and  lighted  his 
house  with  it.  He  took  out  United  States  patent  March  18,  1813,  and  in 
1817  contracted  with  the  United  States  to  supply  for  a  year  the  Beaver 
Tail  Lighthouse.  In  1815  James  McMurtrie  proposed  the  lighting  of 
the  streets  of  Philadelphia ;  Baltimore  commenced  the  use  of  gas  in  1816, 
Boston  in  1822,  and  New  York  in  1825. 

In   Fig.   222   is   shown  a   diagrammatic   illustration  of  the   principal 


FIG.   222. — A  COAL  GAS  PLANT. 


features  of  a  gas  works,  as  employed  throughout  the  greater  part  of 
the  Nineteenth  Century.  On  the  left  is  seen  the  furnace,  in  which  is 
arranged  above  the  fire  a  series  of  retorts,  which  are  in  the  nature  of 
horizontal  closed  cast  iron  boxes.  Onlv  one  of  the  series  is  visible  in  the 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH   CENTURY.  331 

view.  Their  ends  project  out  beyond  the  furnace  walls,  and  have  doors 
for  giving  access  to  the  interior,  and  each  retort  outside  the  furnace  is 
connected  by  an  upright  pipe  to  an  elevated  cylinder  called  a  hydraulic 
main.  When  the  retort  is  charged  with  coal  through  its  end  door,  and 
is  heated  red  hot  by  the  subjacent  fire  of  the  furnace,  a  heavy  gas  is 
driven  off  from  the  coal,  which  passes  up  the  pipe  to  the  hydraulic  main, 
where  it  partially  condenses  and  leaves  its  heavier  portions  in  the  form 
of  coal  tar  and  ammoniacaf  liquor.  The  gas  then  passes  through  the 
series  of  bent  pipes,  which  form  a  condenser,  where  other  remaining  por- 
tions of  the  tar  and  other  impurities  are  condensed,  and  drawn  off  from 
time  to  time  in  the  little  well  shown  on  the  left  of  the  coil.  From  the 
condenser  coils  the  gas  passes  into  the  purifier,  shown  on  the  right 
of  the  coils  as  an  enclosed  case  having  a  series  of  shelves  on  which  is 
spread  slaked  lime,  which  takes  up  from  the  gas  impurities  in  the  form 
of  sulphuretted  hydrogen  and  carbonic  acid.  From  this  purifier  the  gas 
passes  downwardly  through  a  pipe  into  a  large  gas  holder  whose  lower 
entl  is  sealed  in  a  water  tank,  and  which  gas  holder  is  balanced  by  weights 
and  chains  passing  over  pulleys.  With  the  gas  holder,  the  distributing 
mains  of  the  city  are  made  to  connect  to  receive  their  supply.  When 
the  gas  holder  is  full  it  is  buoyed  up  by  the  lighter  gas,  and  occupies  an 
elevated  position,  and  as  its  supply  is  used  up,  the  gas  holder  settles  down 
into  the  water. 

In  the  operation  of  gas  making  many  valuable  secondary  products  are 
formed.  The  coal  in  the  retorts  is  not  entirely  consumed,  but  is  reduced 
to  the  condition  of  coke,  and  in  this  form  is  sold  for  fuel.  The  ammonia- 
cal  condensations  are  purified  to  form  ammonia,  while  the  coal  tar,  which 
but  a  few  years  ago  was  little  more  than  a  waste  material,  is  now  a  valu- 
able commercial  product,  being  extensively  used  in  the  manufacture  of 
the  aniline,  phenol,  and  naphthalene  dyes,  also  in  medicines  and  perfumes, 
and  being  used  in  crude  form  also  as  an  important  element  in  street  pav- 
ing compositions. 

Water  Gas.— In  1875  an  important  era  in  gas  making  was  inaugurated 
by  the  introduction  of  what  is  known  as  "water  gas,"  so  called  for  the 
reason  that  water  in  the  form  of  steam  is  decomposed  and  its  hydrogen, 
mixed  with  carbonic  oxide  gas,  is  mingled  with  a  heavier  carbon  gas  from 
oil,  and  is  converted  at  a  high  temperature  into  a  permanent,  stable  illu- 
minating gas,  at  a  much  lower  cost  than  coal  gas. 

Fontana  was  the  first  to  notice  the  decomposition  of  steam  by  incan- 
descent carbon  to  form  hydrogen  and  carbonic  oxide.  Ibbetson's  British 
patent.  No.  4,954,  of  1824,  represents  the  first  application  of  this  prin- 


332 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


ciple.  This  was  followed  by  Alexander  Selligue,  who,  in  1834,  obtained 
a  French  patent,  Xo.  9,800,  and  in  1842  produced  water  gas  at  Batignol- 
les,  a  suburb  of  Paris.  Sanders'  United  States  patent,  21,027,  July  27, 
1858,  was  the  basis  of  an  experiment  tried  at  the  Girard  House  in  Phila- 
delphia. These,  with  Siemens'  British  patents,  Nos.  2,861,  of  1856,  and 
972,  of  1863,  for  methods  of  constructing  furnaces,  constitute  the  earlier 
steps  in  the  development  of  water  gas,  although  many  other  patents  were 
granted  prior  to  the  latter  date  for  various  methods  and  forms  of  appara- 
tus. The  practical  production  and  successful  commercial  use  of  water  gas, 


FIG.   223. — LOWE'S   WATER  GAS  APPARATUS,   PATENTED   SEPTEMBER  21,    1875. 

however,  began  with  T.  S.  C.  Lowe,  who  obtained  United  States  patent 
No.  167,847,  September  21, 1875,  and  revolutionized  the  gas  making  indus- 
try. In  less  than  a  dozen  years  from  the  date  of  his  patent  150  cities  and 
towns  in  the  United  States  were  using  water  gas,  and  in  1886  the  Franklin 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH   CENTURY.  333 

Institute  gave  to  Mr.  Lowe  a  grand  medal  of  honor  for  his  invention, 
which  of  those  exhibited  that  year  was  believed  to  contribute  most  to  the 
welfare  of  mankind  by  cheapening  the  cost  of  light.  Fig.  223  rep- 
resents- an  illustration  of  the  Lowe  apparatus  as  shown  in  his  patent, 
and  whose  operation  is  as  follows:  Valves  9  and  10  being  open,  an  an- 
thracite coal  fire  in  generator  chamber  I  gives  off  carbonic  oxide  gas, 
which  passes  down  pipe  2  and  enters  the  base  of  superheater.  3,  where 
mixing  with  air  coming  down  pipe  4,  it  burns  to  form  an  intense  heat.  The 
chamber,  3,  is  filled  with  loose  pieces  of  fire  brick,  which  are  soon  heated 
white  hot.  Valves  9  and  10  are  then  closed  and  steam  is  taken  from  an 
upright  boiler,  6,  and  carried  by  a  small  pipe,  7,  to  the  incandescent  mass 
in  chamber  3,  and  passing  down  through  it  is  superheated.  This  super- 
heated steam  passes  from  the  bottom  of  chamber  3  to  the  bottom  of  cham- 
ber i,  and  then  up  through  the  mass  of  red  hot  coal.  The  intensely  hot 
steam  is  thus  decomposed  into  hydrogen  and  oxygen,  and  the  oxygen 
unites  with  the  carbon  of  the  coal  to  form  carbonic  oxide  gas.  As  hydro- 
gen and  carbonic  oxide  burn  with  only  a  feeble  blue  flame,  these  gases  are 
now  made  richer  in  light  giving  carbon  at  this  point  by  the  addition  of 
oil  contained  in  an  elevated  tank,  8.  This,  dripping  on  the  incandescent 
coal  in  chamber  i,  is  volatilized,  and  at  the  same  time  enriches  and  com- 
bines with  the  hydrogen  and  carbonic  oxide  to  form  a  permanent  illu- 
minating gas  (water  gas)  that  passes  up  pipe  5  and  through  the  flues  in 
boiler  6,  to  outlet  13,  and  thence  on  in  the  usual  way  to  the  condenser, 
scrubber  and  gas  holder,  which  are  not  shown,  and  merely  act  to  purify  the 
gas.  As  the  excessively  hot  water  gas  passes  through  the  boiler  flues  it 
furnishes  the  necessary  heat  to  generate  the  steam.  The  air  used  in  the 
process  is  forced  at  12  into  a  drum  in  the  smokestack,  n,  and  is  heated 
by  the  escaping  products  of  combustion.  In  practical  operation  there  are 
two  (or  more)  of  the  steam  superheating  chambers  3,  working  alter- 
nately, and  one  of  them  is  being  heated  up  while  the  other  is  superheating 
the  steam. 

Water  gas  has  neither  the  illuminating  nor  the  heating  qualities  of 
coal  gas,  and  it  is  also  much  more  poisonous.  According  to  O.  Wyss,  one- 
tenth  of  i  per  cent,  of  uncarburetted  water  gas  renders  the  air  of  a  room 
injurious  to  health,  and  i  per  cent,  is  fatal  to  all  warm-blooded  animals. 
Notwithstanding  these  facts,  however,  its  extreme  cheapness  and  fairly 
satisfactory  light  have  carried  it  into  such  general  use  that  to-day  it  is 
said  that  two-thirds  of  all  gas  made  in  the  United  States  is  carburetted 
water  gas. 

Acetylene  Gas  is  a  combination  of  two  parts  carbon  and  two  parts 


334 


THE  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 


hydrogen.  It  was  discovered  in  1836  by  Edmond  Davy,  who  produced 
carburet  of  potasssium,  and  evolved  acetylene  gas  therefrom  by  decom- 
posing it  with  water.  It  was  long  known  as  klumene,  and  when  burned 
it  produced  an  intense  white  light.  For  a  long  time  it  was  only  pro- 
duced in  a  small  way  in  the  laboratory.  It  is  now  made  commercially  by 
the  mutual  decomposition  of  water  and  calcium  carbide,  the  latter  giving 
off,  when  brought  in  contact  with  the  water,  acetylene  gas,  which  rises  in 
bubbles.  In  the  reaction  the  carbon  of  the  carbide  unites  with  a  portion 
of  the  hydrogen  of  the  water,  producing  acetylene  gas  (C2  Hz),  while 
the  calcium  of  the  carbide  unites  with  the  oxygen  of  the  water  and  the 
remaining  portion  of  the  hydrogen  and  forms  calcium  hydrate,  or  slaked 
lime,  which  precipitates  as  a  slush. 

The  union  cf  carbon  with  an  alkali  metal,  first  accomplished  by  Davy 

in  1836,  was  followed 
in  1 86 1  by  the  combi- 
nation of  carbon  with 
calcium  by  Wohler. 
It  was  not,  however, 
until  the  electrical 
furnace  became  an 
agency  in  chemical  re- 
action that  calcium 
carbide  was  made  on 
a  commercial  scale. 
The  production  of 
acetylene  gas  for  il- 
luminating purposes 
began  with  the  opera- 
tions of  Thomas  L. 
Willson  in  1893,  and 
his  patents,  Nos.  541,- 
137  and  541,138,  of 
June  18,  1895,  and 
563,527  and  563,528 
of  July  7,  1896,  cover  the  chemical  process,  the  product,  and  the  mode  of 
operating.  The  reaction  is  a  very  simple  one.  A  mixture  of  lime  and 
carbon  is  subjected  to  the  heat  of  an  electric  arc,  and  the  carbon  combines 
with  the  calcium  of  the  lime  to  form  calcium  carbide,  which  appears  on 
the  market  as  dirty  black  stone-like  lumps.  The  simplicity  of  the  method 
of  generating  acetylene  gas  from  this  substance  by  merely  bringing  it  in. 


FIG.  224. — ACETYLENE  GAS  APPARATUS. 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  335 

contact  with  water  has  greatly  stimulated  invention  in  this  field.  The 
art  began  practically  in  1895,  and  since  that  time  more  than  500  patents 
have  been  granted  for  acetylene  gas  apparatus. 

A  very  simple  apparatus  for  the  purpose  is  shown  in  Fig.  224,  in. 
which  a  vessel  containing  water  has  an  inverted  bell  or  cylinder  within 
it,  open  at  its  lower  end.  A  basket  or  cage  is  suspended  within  the  inner 
cylinder,  and  contains  a  few  lumps  of  calcium  carbide,  which  are  first 
immersed  in  the  water  by  being  forced  down  by  the  rod  supporting  the 


FIG.    225. — MULTI-CHARGE  ACETYLENE   GAS   GENERATOR. 

same,  which  passes  through  a  stuffing  box.  Acetylene  gas  is  immediately 
generated  and  its  pressure  forces  the  level  of  the  water  down  in  the 
inner  cylinder,  causing  it  to  rise  in  the  annular  space  between  said  cylinder 
and  the  case.  As  the  water  level  descends  in  the  inner  chamber  it  passes 
out  of  contact  with  the  calcium  carbide,  and  the  generation  of  gas  is  dis- 


336  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

continued  until  some  of  the  gas  is  drawn  off  or  consumed  at  the  burners, 
whose  pipe  is  shown  connecting  with  the  gas  space  of  the  inner  cylinder. 
When  so  drawn  off,  the  pressure  in  the  inner  cylinder  is  relieved,  and 
the  water  therein  rises  to  contact  again  with  the  calcium  carbide  and 
renews  the  generation  of  gas.  This  principle  of  automatic  action  is  a 
very  old  one,  and  will  be  recognized  by  the  student  as  that  of  the  Dober- 
einer  lamp  of  the  chemical  laboratory,  invented  by  Prof.  Dobereiner,  of 
Jena,  in  1824. 

In  acetylene  gas  apparatus  a  great  variety  of  methods  are  employed 
for  bringing  the  water  and  carbide  into  contact.  Instead  of  the  automatic 
pressure  level  principle  described,  many  devices  discharge  a  regulated 
quantity  of  powdered  calcium  carbide  into  the  water,  while  in  another 
form  the  water  is  discharged  upon  the  calcium  carbide.  An  example  of 
the  latter  is  given  in  Fig.  225,  which  represents  the  Criterion  generator. 
A  number  of  receptacles  containing  charges  of  calcium  carbide  are  made 
to  successively  receive  a  regulated  quantity  of  water,  the  gas  being  col- 
lected in  a  rising  and  falling  holder. 

Acetylene  gas  finds  its  principal  uses  for  isolated  plants,  and  in  coun- 
try houses.  One  form  of  using  it  is  to  compress  it  under  high  tension 
in  cylinders,  but  this  method  has  been  attended  with  some  disastrous  ex- 
plosions, and  is  discriminated  against  by  the  insurance  companies. 

Calcium  carbide  is  now  made  in  a  large  way  by  the  Willson  Aluminum 
Company,  at  Spray,  N.  C,  and  also  at  Niagara  Falls  and  at  Sault  St. 
Marie,  Mich.,  and  its  cost  is  between  3  and  4  cents  per  pound. 

Acetylene  gas  has  an  acrid,  garlicy  odor,  and  burns  with  an  intensely 
white  flame,  and  so  superior  is  it  to  coal  gas  in  illuminating  power  that  it 
only  requires  a  pipe  of  one-third  the  diameter  of  that  used  for  coal  gas 
to  produce  the  same  illuminating  effect. 

Carbnretted  Air  is  another  form  of  illuminating  gas  which  has  found 
some  useful  applications.  This  consists  simply  of  air  forced  through 
some  light  hydrocarbon,  such  as  naphtha,  benzine  or  gasoline,  and  so 
saturated  with  the  vapors  of  these  volatile  substances  as  to  become  an 
inflammable  mixture.  Many  patents  have  been  granted  for  apparatus 
operating  on  this  principle,,  and  it  has  been  put  to  some  practical  use  in 
country  houses,  and  seaside  resorts. 

Pintsch  Gas  is  another  special  application.  It  is  a  gas  made  from  oil 
and  compressed  in  storage  cylinders  by  means  of  pumps  for  portable  use. 
It  is  stored  under  a  pressure  sometimes  as  high  as  150  pounds  to  the  inch, 
its  pressure  being  reduced  at  the  burners  through  the  agency  of  pressure 
regulators.  It  is  used  for  lighting  railway  cars,  buoys,  and  lightships. 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH   CENTURY. 


337 


Gas  making  has  probably  been  the  most  extensive  and  important  of 
all  the  commercial  chemical  operations  of  the  Nineteenth  Century,  and 
with  it  has  come  a  great  array  of  minor  inventions  as  accessories.  Among 
these  first  came  the  gas  meter  and  pressure  regulator.  With  the  intro- 
duction of  gas  into  houses  some  means  of  determining  the  amount  con- 
sumed as  a  basis  of  payment  was  required,  and  for  this  purpose  the  gas 
meter  was  devised.  The  first  gas  meters  were  known  as  wet  meters,  and 
effected  a  measurement  by  passing  the  gas  through  a  liquid  and  rotating  a 
wheel  therein.  The  wet  meter  was  invented  by  Clegg  '( British  patent  No. 
3,968,  of  1815),  and  the  dry  meter,  by  Malam  (British  patent  No.  4,458, 
of  1820),  and  improved  by  Defries  (British  patent.  No.  7,705,  of  1838). 
The  gas  regulator  is  simply  a  little  automatic  apparatus  whereby  the 
variation  of  pressure  in  the  gas  main  is  reduced  and  the  flow  rendered 
perfectly  uniform  at  the  burner.  It  effects  a  saving  of  gas  by  preventing 
it  from  blowing  wThen  the  pressure  is  too  great,  and  also  gives  a  more 
steady  and  uniform  light. 

Among  the  great  number  of  mechanical  devices  which  have  grown 
out  of  the  use  of  gas  may  be  mentioned  the  gas  range  for  heat,  the  gas 
engine  for  power,  and  the  Welsbach  burner  for  light.  The  gas  range  has 
contributed  much  to  the  domestic  economy  of  the  city  house.  It  gives 
an  immediate  heat  in  the 
kitchen  for  all  culinary  and 
domestic  purposes,  without 
the  incidental  objections  of 
having  to  transport  fuel  and 
remove  ashes.  It  is  put 
into  or  out  of  action  in  an 
instant,  saves  labor  and 
time,  and  avoids  the  heat 
and  discomfort  of  a  coal 
stove  during  the  hot  months 
of  summer.  It  is  organ- 
ized in  principle  after  the 
Bunsen  burner,  whereby  a 
perfect  combustion  of  the 
carbon  is  obtained  with 
maximum  heating  effect  and  without  smoke  or  deposits  of  lampblack. 

The  Otto  gas  engine,  seen  in  Fig.  226,  is  a  pioneer  and  representative 
type  of  a  great  number  of  explosive  gas  engines,  which  in  recent  years 
have  become  active  competitors  of  the  steam  engine  where  only  small 


FIG.    226  —OTTO   GAS   ENGINE. 


338 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


CHIMNEY 


SHADE  SUPPORT 


power  is  required.  The  Otto  engine  is  covered  by  patent  No.  194,047, 
August  14,  1877.  Patents  No.  222,467,  297,329,  336,505,  358,796,  320,- 
285,  386,211  and  549,160  represent  important  developments  in  this  art. 

The    Welsbach    burner   for  improving  the   quality   of   gaslight,   and 
economizing   its   consumption,    is   also   well   and    favorably    known.      It 
utilizes  the  Bunse'n  burner  principle  to  make  a  very  perfect  combustion 
of  the  gas,  with  the  greatest  possible  heat  and  the  least  smoke,  and  then 
directs  its  great  heat  on  to  a  refractory  body  which  will  not  burn,  but 
glows  with  a  brilliant  white  incandescence.     The  Welsbach  burner  was 
brought  out  in   1885.     The  United  States  patent  therefor  was  granted 
October  7,  1890.  to  Carl  Auer  Von  Welsbach,  No.  438,125.     The  Wels- 
bach light  is  a  development  of  the  Drum- 
mond,   or   limelight,   invented   by   Lieut. 
Drummond,  of  England,  in  1826.     This 
latter  exposed  a  piece  of  quick  lime  to 
the  intensely  hot  flame  of  the  oxy-hydro- 
gen  blow  pipe,  Which  was  invented  by  Dr. 
Robt.  Hare  in  1802.     The  piece  of  lime 
glows  with  an  intense  brilliancy  approxi- 
mating that  of  the  electric  light.     The 
Welsbach  burner,  see  Fig.  227,  operates 
on  the  same  general  principle,  except  that 
the  refractory  body,  which  is  heated  to 
incandescence,  is  a  tubular  sleeve  of  net- 
ted fabric  first  steeped  in  a  solution  of 
the  salts  of  refractory  earths,  and  then 
incinerated  by  heat  to  burn  out  the  textile 
fibre    and    leave    the    refractory    earthy 
oxides  as  a  skeleton  of  the  fabric,  and 
which     is     called     a     "mantle."       This 
mantle    is    suspended    above    the    flame 
arising  from  a  proper  admixture  of  air 
and    gas,    and    is    heated    thereby    to    a 
brilliant    incandescence    which    furnishes 
the     light.     In     the     Welsbach     burner 

the  light  seen  does  not  proceed  directly  from  the  combustion  of  the  gas,  but 
from  the  white  hot  mantle.  The  light  is  a  very  pure  white  one,  does  not 
distort  or  falsify  colors,  and  effects  a  great  saving  of  gas.  An  important 
improvement  upon  the  mantle  is  covered  by  Rawson's  patent,  July  30, 
1889,  No.  407,963,  for  coating  the  mantles  with  paraffine  or  analogous 


:SCHE  SUPPORT 


GAS 
REGULATO 


TUBE 
R SHUTTER 


BUNSENTUBE 


FIG.    227   —  WELSBACH  GAS  BURNER. 


IN    THE  NINETEENTH   CENTURY.  339 

material  to  toughen  them  and  prevent  them  from  breaking  in  packing  and 
transportation. 

Natural  Gas. — No  review  of  gas  lighting  would  be  complete  without 
some  reference  to  the  development  incident  to  the  use  of  the  natural  gas 
flowing  from  the  internal  reservoirs  of  the  earth.  Such  gas  has  been 
known  and  utilized  for  centuries  in  China,  and  was  conveyed  by  the  Chi- 
nese in  bamboo  pipes  to  points  of  utilization.  The  discovery  of  coal  oil 
in  the  United  States  in  1859,  and  the  great  advances  made  in  the  methods 
and  apparatus  for  sinking  oil  wells,  have  resulted  in  the  discovery  of  num- 
erous wells  of  natural  gas,  whose  values  were  quickly  perceived  and  util- 
ized by  their  owners.  The  village  of  Fredonia,  N.  Y.,  was  probably  the 
first  to  be  lighted  by  natural  gas,  and  a  flow  from  a  well  at  West  Bloom- 
field,  N.  Y.,  opened  in  1865,  was  carried  in  a  wooden  main  more  than 
twenty  miles  to  the  city  of  Rochester.  Many  wells  of  natural  gas  have 
since  been  found  at  various  points,  and  so  extensive  has  been  its  use  for 
cooking,  heating,  lighting  and  metallurgical  processes,  that  thousands  of 
patents  have  been  taken  for  various  forms  of  burners,  pressure  regulators 
and  other  appliances  for  utilizing  the  same.  The  annual  production  of 
natural  gas  in  the  United  States  for  1888  was  valued  at  $22,629,875. 
There  has,  however,  been  a  steady  decrease  in  the  past  ten  years.  The 
amount  produced  in  1897  was  $13,826,422.  The  insatiable  demands  of 
modern  civilization  must  some  day  exhaust  the  supply,  and  what  will  take 
place  when  the  subterranean  chambers  are  relieved  of  their  burden  is  'a 
question  for  the  geologists  to  answer. 


340  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 
CIVIL  ENGINEERING. 

GREAT  BRIDGES — PNEUMATIC  CAISSONS — TUNNELS— THE  BEACH  TUNNEL  SHIELD — 
SUEZ  CANAL — DREDGES — THE  LIDGERWOOD  CABLEWAY — CANAL  LOCKS — ARTESIAN 
WELLS  —  COMPRESSED  AIR  ROCK  DRILLS  —  BLASTING  —  MISSISSIPPI  JETTIES  — 
IRON  AND  STEEL  BUILDINGS — EIFFEL  TOWER — WASHINGTON'S  MONUMENT — THE 
UNITED  STATES  CAPITOL. 

ALMOST  entirely  of  an  outdoor  character,  and  necessarily  on  pub- 
lic exhibition,  the  engineering  achievements  of  the  Nineteenth 
Century  have  always  been  conspicuously  in  evidence,  challeng- 
ing the  admiration  of  the  public  eye.     They  represent  man's  at- 
tack upon  the  obstacles  presented  by  nature  to  his  irrepressible  spirit  of 
progress.     Difficulties  apparently  insuperable  have  confronted  him,  only 
to  melt  away  under  his  persistent  genius  until  nothing  seems  impossible. 
He  has  connected  continents  writh  the  telegraph,  has  crosshatched  the 
land  with  railroads,  penetrated  the  bowels  of  the  earth  with  artesian  wells, 
opened  communication  between  oceans  with -the  Suez  Canal,  reclaimed 
territory  from  the  sea  in  Holland,  pierced  mountain  ranges  with  tunnels, 
drained  marshes,  irrigated  deserts,  reared  lofty  structures  of  masonry  and 
steel,  spanned  waters  with  magnificent  bridges,  opened  channel-ways  to 
the  sea,  built  beacons  for  the  mariner,  and  breakwaters  for  the  storm 
beaten  ship. 

Probably  the  most  important  branch  of  engineering  work  is  railroad 
construction,  already  considered  under  steam  railways.  Closely  related 
to  the  railroad,  however,  is  bridge  building,  and  many  of  these  noble 
structures  hang  between  heaven  and  earth,  conspicuous  monuments  of 
the  engineer's  skill: 

The  Forth  Bridge. — This  massive  structure,  of  the  cantilever  type,  is 
shown  in  Fig.  228.  It  was  begun  in  1882  and  finished  in  1890,  and  is  the 
largest  and  most  costly  viaduct  in  the  world.  It  is  built  across  the  Firth 
of  Forth,  and  is  the  most  important  link  in  the  direct  railway  communica- 
tion of  the  North  British  Railway,  and  associated  roads,  between  Edin- 
burgh on  the  one  side,  and  Perth  and  Dundee  on  the  other.  The  total 
length  of  the  viaduct  is  8,296  feet,  or  nearly  ir><$  miles.  The  extreme 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH   CENTURY, 


341 


fc  9 

u  J 


Ss 

<<" 
a  2 
I  s 

dla 
s!£ 

!* 

£B" 
*>< 


342  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

height  of  the  structure  is  361  feet  above  the  water  level,  and  the  founda- 
tions extend  91  feet  below  the  water  level.  The  two  main  spans  are 
1,710  feet,  and  these  both  give  a  clear  headway  for  navigation  of  150  feet 
height.  There  are  over  50,000  tons  of  steel  in  the  superstructure,  and 
about  140,000  cubic  yards  of  masonry  and  concrete  in  the  foundation  piers. 
The  three  main  piers  consist  each  of  a  group  of  four  masonry  columns 
faced  with  granite,  49  feet  in  diameter  at  the  top,  and  36  feet  high,  which 
rest  on  solid  rock,  or  on  concrete  carried  down  in  most  cases  by  means 
of  caissons  of  a  maximum  diameter  of  70  feet  to  rock  or  boulder  clay. 

No  intelligent  conception  of  the  enormous  size  of  this  great  structure 
can  be  obtained  except  by  comparison.  Estimating  from  the  bottom  of 
the  masonry  piers  to  the  towering  heights  of  the  cantilevers,  it  reaches 
above  the  dome  of  St.  Peter's  at  Rome,  and  is  only  a  little  short  of  the 
height  of  the  greatest  of  the  pyramids  of  Egypt.  The  cost  of  the  bridge 
is  given  as  £3,250,000  or  nearly  $16,000,000. 

The  Brooklyn  Bridge. — Having  for  its  successful  construction  and 
maintenance  the  same  foundation  principle  upon  which  the  spider  builds 
its  web,  this  magnificent  bridge  of  steel  wires  spans  the  East  River  be- 
tween New  York  and  Brooklyn,  with  a  total  length  of  5,989  feet,  and  in 
length  of  span  and  cost  is  second  only  to  the  great  Forth  Bridge.  It  is 
shown  in  Fig.  229,  and  among  suspension  bridges  it  ranks  first.  It  has 
a  central  span  of  i,595//2  feet  between  the  two  towers,  over  which  the 
suspension  cables  are  hung,  and  has  a  clear  headway  beneath  of  135  feet. 
It  has  two  side  spans  of  930  feet  each  between  the  towers  and  the  shore. 
The  suspension  towers  stand  on  two  piers  founded  in  the  river  on  solid 
rock  at  depths  of  78  and  45  feet  below  high  water,  and  they  rise  277  feet 
above  the  same  level.  There  are  four  suspension  cables  151/2  inches  in 
diameter,  each  composed  of  5,282  galvanized  steel  wires,  placed  side  by 
side,  without  any  twist,  and  arranged  in  groups  of  19  strands  bound  up 
with  wire.  These  cables  have  a  dip  in  the  center  of  the  large  span  of  128 
feet,  rest  on  movable  saddles  on  the  top  of  the  towers  to  allow  for  slight 
movement  of  the  cables  due  to  expansion  and  contraction,  and  are  held 
down  at  the  shore  ends  by  massive  anchorages  of  masonry.  The  bridge 
has  a  width  of  85  feet,  and  has  two  roadways,  two  lines  of  railway,  and  a 
foot  way.  It  was  begun  in  1876  and  opened  for  traffic  in  1883, 
and  its  cost  was  about  $15,000,000.  It  fulfills  a  great  function  for  the 
busy  metropolis,  and  it  hangs  in  the  air  a  monument  in  steel  wire  to  the 
genius  of  the  Roeblings. 

Masonry  Bridges. — The  largest  and  finest  single  span  of  masonry  in 
America,  and  believed  to  be  the  largest  in  the  world,  is  to  be  found  about 


L\    THE   XIXETEEXTH   CEXTL'RY. 


343 


p 


344 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


9  miles  northwest  of  the  city  of  Washington.  It  is  known  as  the  Wash- 
ington Aqueduct  or  Cahin  John  Bridge,  and  is  seen  in  Fig.  230.  It 
extends  across  the  small  stream  known  as  Cabin  John  Creek,  and  car- 
ries an  aqueduct  9  feet  in  diameter,  that  supplies  the  National  Capital 
with  water,  its  upper  surface  above  the  water  conduit  being  formed  into 
a  fine  roadway.  It  is  450  feet  long.  Its  span  is  220  feet,  the  height  of 


FIG.   230. — CABIN   JOHN   BRIDGE,    NEAR   WASHINGTON,   D.    C.      LARGEST    MASONRY   ARCH    IX 
THE  WORLD.      LENGTH,  45O  FEET;   SPAN  OF  ARCH,  22O  FEET;    HEIGHT,    ICO  FEET. 

the  roadway  above  the  bed  of  the  stream  is  TOO  feet,  and  the  width  of 
the  structure  is  20  feet  4  inches.  Gen.  Montgomery  C.  Meigs  was  the 
engineer  in  charge  of  its  construction.  It  was  begun  in  1857  and  finished 
in  1864,  with  the  exception  of  the  parapet  walls  of  the  roadway,  which 
were  added  in  1872-3.  Its  cost  was  $254,000.  Only  one  other  masonry 
arch  has  ever  been  built  which  equalled  this  in  size.  The  Trezzo  Bridge, 
built  in  the  fourteenth  century,  over  the  Adda  in  North  Italy,  and  subse- 
quently destroyed,  is  said  to  have  had  a  span  of  251  feet,  but  the  Wash- 
ington Aqueduct  Bridge  at  Cabin  John  is  a  noble  work  in  masonry,  and 
when  standing  beneath  its  majestic  sweep,  and  viewing  the  regular  courses 
of  masonry  hanging  nearly  a  hundred  feet  high  in  the  air,  and  springing 
more  than  a  hundred  feet  from  the  embankment  upon  either  side,  one 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH   CENT  City.  345 

loses  sight  of  the  principles  of  the  arch,  and  the  fear  that  the  mass  may 
fall  upon  him  gives  way  to  the  impression  that  nature  has  bowed  to  the 
genius  of  man,  and  suspended  the  law  of  gravity. 

Among  the  patents  granted  for  bridges  the  most  important  are  those 
relating  to  the  cantilever  type,  among  which  may  be  mentioned  those  to 
Bender,  Latrobe,  and  Smith,  No.  141,310,  July  29,  1873;  Eads,  Xo.  142,- 
378  to  142,382,  September  2,  1873,  and  Clarke,  Xo.  504,559,  September 
5,  1893. 

Caissons.— For  submarine  explorations  the  ancient  diving  bell,  which 
was  said  to  have  been  used  more  than  2,000  years  ago,  has  given  place 
to  diving  armor,  while  for  more  extensive  local  work  the  pneumatic  cais- 
son is  employed.  The  latter  was  invented  by  M.  Triger,  a  French  en- 
gineer, in  1841.  An  early  example  of  it  is  also  given  in  Cochrane's  Brit- 
ish patent  Xo.  3,226,  of  1861.  It  consists  of  a  vertical  cylinder  di-vided 
into  compartments,  its  lower  open  end  resting  on  the  river  bottom.  Com- 
pressed air  forced  into  the  lower  compartment  forces  the  water  back, 
while  the  men  are  at  work,  the  intermediate  chamber  forming  an  air 
lock,  by  which  entrance  to,  or  egress  from,  the  lower  working  chamber 
is  obtained.  The  pneumatic  caissons  of  Eads  (patents  Nos.  123,002,  Jan- 
uary 23,  1872,  and  123,685,  February  13,  1872)  and  Flad  (patent  Xo. 
303,830,  August  19,  1884)  are  modern  applications  of  the  same  principle. 
The  sinking  of  shafts  through  quicksand,  by  artificially  freezing  the  same 
and  then  treating  it  as  solid  material,  is  an  ingenious  modern  method 
shown  in  patents  to  Poetsch,  Xo.  300,891,  June  24,  1884;  and  Smith,  XTo. 
371,389,  October  n,  1887. 

Tunnels. — Less  conspicuous  than  bridges,  by  virtue  of  their  under- 
ground character,  but  none  the  less  important,  are  these  mole-like  means 
of  communication.  Especially  difficult  of  construction  for  the  reason  that 
the  nature  of  the  soil  or  rock  is  largely  unknown,  and  for  the  reason  also 
that  the  work  may  have  to  encounter  faults  in  rocks,  and  springs  or  quick- 
sands in  the  earth ;  nevertheless  the  demands  of  the  railroads  for  shorten- 
ing the  distance  of  travel  and  economizing  time  have  stimulated  the 
engineer  to  expend  millions  of  dollars  in  piercing  the  earth  with  these 
great  underground  passageways. 

The  Mont  Cenis  Tunnel  was  constructed  to  establish  railway  com- 
munication between  France  and  Italy  through  the  Alps.  It  was  begun 
in  1857,  ancl  after  having  been  in  progress  of  construction  for  thirteen 
years,  "was  opened  for  traffic  in  1871.  This  tunnel  was  commenced  by 
hand  borings,  being  for  the  most  part  through  solid  rock,  and  its  progress 
up  to  1862  was  so  slow  that  it  was  estimated  that  thirty  years  would  be 


346  THE   PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

required  for  its  construction.  Its  earlier  completion  was  due  to  the  in- 
troduction of  rock  drills  operated  by  compressed  air,  which  trebled  the 
rate  of  advance,  and  which  device  made  a  new  epoch  in  all  rock-boring 
and  mining  operations.  This  tunnel  was  cut  from  both  ends  at  the  same 
time,  and  so  accurate  were  the  surveys  in  establishing  the  alignment  of 
the  two  headings  through  the  mountain  mass,  that,  although  the  tunnel 
was  more  than  jl/2  miles  long,  when  the  two  headings  came  together  in 
the  middle,  only  a  difference  of  one  foot  in  level  existed  between  them. 
When  it  is  remembered  that  most  of  the  7^  miles  of  tunnel  was  cut 
through  solid  rock,  by  boring  and  blasting,  the  immensity  of  the  under- 
taking can  be  appreciated.  As  completed  the  tunnel  is  8  miles  long,  and 
wide  enough  for  a  double  track  railway. 

The  St.  Gothard  Tunnel  is  another  tunnel  through  the  Alps,  which  in- 
volved even  a  longer  and  deeper  cut  through  the  mountains  than  the 
Mont  Cenis  Tunnel.  This  is  9*4  miles  long,  and  it  was  begun  in  1872, 
the  headings  joined  in  1880,  and  the  tunnel  opened  for  traffic  in  1882. 
Although  by  far  the  largest  undertaking  yet  made,  the  improvement  in 
rock-boring  machinery  enabled  it  to  be  constructed  much  more  rapidly 
and  at  less  expense. 

The  Arlberg  is  still  another  Alpine  tunnel.  It  is  6}/2  miles  long,  was 
commenced. in  1880,  and  opened  for  traffic  in  1884. 

Tunneling  under  rivers  presents  many  more  difficulties  than  driving 
through  the  hardest  rock.  This  is  so  by  reason  of  the  inflow  of  water. 
Among  successful  tunnels  of  this  kind  may  be  named  the  Mersey  and 
.Severn  tunnels  in  England,  opened  in  1886,  and  the  St.  Clair  tunnel  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  Canada.  The  histories  of  the  abandoned 
Detroit  and  Hudson  river  tunnels  are  object  lessons  of  the  difficulties  en- 
countered in  this  class  of  work. 

An  important  engineering  invention  for  tunneling  through  silt  or  soft 
soil  is  the  so-called  "shield."  This  was  first  employed  by  the  engineer 
Brunei  in  the  construction  of  the  Thames  tunnel,  which  was  begun  in  1825 
and  opened  as  a  thoroughfare  in  1843.  The  shield,  as  now  used,  is  a  sort 
of  a  cylinder  or  sleeve  as  large  as  the  tunnel,  which  sleeve,  as  the  excava- 
tion proceeds  in  front  of  it,  is  forced  ahead  to  act  both  as  a  ring-shaped 
cutter  and  a  protection  to  the  workmen,  its  advance  being  effected  by  pow- 
erful hydraulic  jacks  or  screws  which  find  a  back  bearing  against  the 
completed  wall  of  the  tunnel.  As  the  digging  proceeds  the  shield  is 
advanced,  and  a  section  of  tunnel  is  built  behind  it  which,  in  turn,  fur- 
nishes a  bearing  for  the  jacks  in  the  further  advance  of  the  shield. 

This  latter  improvement  was  the  invention  of  the  late  Alfred  E.  Beach, 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH   CENTURY.  347 

of  the  Scientific  American,  and  was  covered  by  him  in  patent  No.  91,071, 
Tune  8,  1869,  and  was  used  in  driving  the  experimental  pneumatic  subway 
constructed  by  him  under  Broadway,  New  York,  in  1868-9,  an^  a^so  m 
the  St.  Clair  River  tunnel  and  the  unfinished  Hudson  River  tunnel  and 
other  works. 

Subsequent  improvements  made  upon  the  shield  by  J.  H.  Greathead 
of  England  and  covered  by  him  in  United  States  patents  Nos.  360,959, 
April  12,  1887 ;  and  432,871,  July  22,  1890,  have  greatly  added  to  the  value 
and  efficiency  of  this  device,-  and  made  it  one  of  the  leading  instrumentali- 
ties in  tunnel  construction. 

Suez  Canal. — It  is  said  that  the  undertaking  of  connecting  the  Med- 
iterranean and  Red  Seas  was  considered  as  long  ago  as  the  time  of 
Herodotus,  and  a  small  channel  appears  to  have  been  opened  twenty-five 
centuries  ago,  but  was  subsequently  abandoned.  In  1847  tne  subject  was 
again  taken  up  for  serious  consideration,  the  work  begun  in  1860,  and  fin- 
ished in  1869,  at  a  cost  of  £20,500,000,  or  more  than  a  hundred  million 
dollars.  The  canal  starts  at  Port  Said,  on  the  Mediterranean,  a  view  of 
which  with  its  ships  of  all  nations  and  the  canal  reaching  far  away  in  the 
distance  is  seen  in  Fig.  231.  The  canal  extends  nearly  due  south  to  Suez 
on  the  Red  Sea,  a  distance  of  about  100  miles,  through  barren  wastes  of 
sand  and  an  occasional  lake.  It  was  originally  formed  with  a  bottom 
vidth  of  72  feet,  spreading  out  to  196  to  328  feet  at  the  top,  and  of  a  depth 
of  26  feet,  but  has  since  been  increased  in  transverse  dimension  to  accom- 
modate the  great  increase  in  travel. 

Sixty  great  dredges  were  employed  on  the  work,  and  the  dredged  ma- 
terial was  discharged  in  chutes  on  to  the  bank.  The  canal  was  the  work 
of  M.  De  Lesseps,  the  eminent  French  engineer,  and  has  proved  a  great 
success  from  both  an  engineering  and  financial  standpoint.  The  stock- 
is  mainly  held  in  England,  having  been  bought  from  the  Khedive  of 
Egypt.  In  1898  the  ships  passing  through  the  canal  during  the  year 
reached  the  remarkable  number  of  3,503.  The  rate  of  tolls  is  10  francs 
(about  $2)  per  net  ton.  The  gross  tonnage  of  ships  passing  through  in 
1898  was  12,962,632,  the  net  tonnage  9,238,603.  The  total  receipts  for 
the  year  were  87,906,255  francs  (about  $17,500,000),  and  the  net  profit 
63,441,987  francs  (about  $12,500,000).  An  average  size  ocean  liner  pays 
about  $5,000  for  the  privilege  of  sailing  through  this  great  ditch.  Ad- 
miral Dewey's  ship,  the  "Olympia,"  returning  from  the  Philippines,  paid 
for  her  toll  $3,516.04,  and  the  "Chicago,"  $3,165.95.  Going  the  other 
way,  our  supply  ship  "Alexander"  paid  $4,107.99,  while  the  "Glacier"  paid 
$5,052.38.  Shins  flaking  the  passage  through  the  canal  move  slowly  on 


348 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


II 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH   CENTURY. 


349 


account  of  the  washing  of  the  banks,  about  22  hours  being  required, 
but  the  shortening  of  the  travel  of  ships  going  east  and  west,  and  the 
saving  of  life,  property,  and  time,  involved  in  avoiding  the  circuitous 
and  stormy  passage  around  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  has  been  of  incalcul- 
able benefit  to  the  world. 

With  the  construction  of  canals  and  harbors,  great  improvements  have 
been  made  in  dredges.  Some  of  these  are  of  the  clam-shell  type,  some 
employ  the  scoop  and  lever,  others  an  endless  series  of  buckets.  An 
example  of  the  latter,  used  on  the  Panama  Canal,  is  seen  in  Fig.  232. 


FIG.  232. — HERCULES  DREDGER. 

Still  another  form,  and  the  most  recent  if  not  the  most  important  is  the 
hydraulic  dredger,  which,  by  rotating  cutters,  stirs  and  cuts  the  mud  and 
silt,  and  by  powerful  suction  pumps  and  immense  tubes  draws  up  the  semi- 
ikiid  mass  and  sends  it  to  suitable  points  of  discharge.  The  best  known 
of  the  latter  type  is  the  Bowers  hydraulic  dredge,  covered  by  many 
patents,  of  which  Nos.  318,859  and  318,860,  May  26,  1885;  388,253, 
August  21.  1888;  and  484,763,  October  18,  1892,  are  the  most  important. 
For  surface  excavations  in  solid  earth  the  Lidgerwood  Cableway  is  an 
important  and  labor  saving  device.  A  track  cable  is  stretched  from  two 
distant  towers,  and  a  bucket  holding  well  on  to  a  ton  of  earth  is  made  to 
travel  on  a  trolley  running  on  said  cable  track,  rising  at  one  end  out  of 
the  excavation,  and  dumping  at  the  other  end  to  fill  in  the  excavation  as 


350  THE  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 

the  cutting  progresses,  all  in  a  continuous  and  economical  manner.  This 
device  is  made  under  the  patent  to  M.  W.  Locke,  No.  295,776,  March  25, 
1884,  and  comprehends  many  subsequent  improvements  patented  by  Mil- 
ler, Delaney,  North  and  others.  The  Chicago  Drainage  Canal  is  a  work 
just  completed,  which  largely  employed  these  devices.  This  canal  was 
designed  to  connect  the  Chicago  River  with  the  Mississippi  River,  so  as  to 
send  the  sewage  of  Chicago  down  the  Mississippi  instead  of  into  Lake 
Michigan.  Although  it  cost  $33,000,000  and  required  seven  years  for 
completion,  the  labor-saving  cableways  greatly  cheapened  its  cost,  and 
shortened  the  time  of  its  construction. 

Among  the  leading  inventions  relating  to  canal  construction  may  be 
mentioned  the  bear-trap  canal-lock  gate  (patents  Nos.  229,682,  236,488 
and  552,063),  and  the  Dutton  pneumatic  lift  locks.  The  latter  provide 
ease  and  rapidity  of  action  by  a  principle  of  balancing  locks  in  pairs,  and 
are  covered  by  his  patent  No.  457,528,  August  n,  1891,  and  others  of  sub- 
sequent date. 

Artesian  Wells  represent  an  important  branch  of  engineering  work, 
and  they  are  so  called  from  the  province  of  Artois,  in  France,  where  they 
have  for  a  long  time  been  in  use.  Extending  several  thousand  feet  into 
the  subterranean  chambers  of  the  earth,  they  have  brought  abundant  water 
supply  to  the  surface  all  over  the  world,  from  the  desert  sands  of  Sahara 
to  the  hotels  of  the  modern  city ;  they  have  contributed  oil  and  gas  in  in- 
credible quantities  to  supply  light  and  heat,  and  -have  made  valuable  addi- 
tions to  the  salt  supply  of  the  world. 

They  are  dfriven  by  reciprocating  a  ponderous  chisel-shaped  drill 
within  an  iron  tube,  six  inches  more  or  less  in  diameter,  which  is  built 
up  in  sections,  and  moved  down  as  the  cutting  descends.  The  drill  is 
reciprocated  by  a  suspending  rope  from  machinery  in  a  derrick,  and  in 
order  to  give  a  hammer-like  blow  to  the  chisel  a  pair  of  ponderous  iron 
links  coupled  together  like  those  of  a  chain,  and  called  a  "drill  jar"  con- 
nect the  drill  to  the  rope.  As  the  sections  of  the  link  slide  over  each 
other  they  come  together  with  a  hammer  blow  at  the  moment  of  lifting 
\hat  dislodges  the  drill  from  the  rock,  and  on  the  descend- 
ing movement  they  come  together  with  a  hammering  blow  im- 
mediately after  the  drill  touches  the  rock  to  drive  it  into  the  same.  The 
first  United  States  patent  for  a  drill  jar  is  that  to  Morris,  Xo. 
2,243,  September  4,  1841.  When  an  oil  well  ceases  to  flow,  it  is  re- 
juvenated by  being  "shot,"  which  is  quite  contrary  to  the  ordinary  con- 
ception of  prolonging  life.  For  this  purpose  a  dynamite  cartridge  is 
exploded  at  the  lower  end  of  the  well,  which  shatters  the  rock,  and,  in 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH   CENTURY.  351 

opening  up  new  channels  of  flow  for  the  oil,  renews  the  yield.  Many 
patented  inventions  have  been  made  in  the  field  of  well  boring,  and  the 
discovery  of  coal  oil  in  the  United  States  in  1859  has  developed  a  great 
industry  and  built  up  enormous  fortunes.  The  amount  of  petroleum  pro- 
duced in  the  United  States  in  1896  was  60,960,361  barrels,  the  largest 
yield  on  record.  In  1897  the  amount  was  60,568,081  barrels. 

Of  less  consequence  than  the  artesian  well,  but  finding  many  useful 
applications,  is  the  drive  well.  A  metal  tube  with  a  perforated  lower  end 
is  driven  down  by  hammers  into  the  ground,  and  furnishes  a  quick  and 
cheap  source  of  water  supply.  This  was  invented  by  Col.  Green  in  1861, 
in  meeting  the  necessities  of  his  military  camp  during  the  civil  war,  and 
was  patented  by  him  January  14,  1868,  No.  73,425. 

Rock  Drills. — In  mining  and  tunneling  through  rock,  the  rock  drill 
has  been  the  implement  of  paramount  importance  and  utility.  For  boring 
by  rotary  action  the  diamond  drill  is  most  effective.  This  uses  bits  set 
with  diamonds  which,  by  their  extreme  hardness,  cut  through  the  most 
refractory  rock  with  great  rapidity.  It  was  invented  by  Hermann  and 
patented  by  him  in  France,  June  3,  1854. 

More  important,  however,  is  the  compressed  air  rock  drill,  in  which 
a  piston  has  the  drill  bit  directly  on  its  piston  rod  and  cuts  by  a  recipro- 
cating action.  The  piston  is  actuated  by  compressed  air  admitted  alter- 
nately to  its  opposite  sides  in  an  automatic  manner  by  valves.  The  com- 
pressed air  conveyed  to  the  drill  in  the  tunnel  or  mine  not  only  operates 
the  drill,  but  helps  to  ventilate  the  tunnel.  As  early  as  1849  Clarke  and 
Motley,  in  England,  invented  a  machine  drill,  and  in  1851  Fowle  de- 
vised a  similar  machine,  having  the  drill  attached  directly  to  the  piston 
cross  head.  The  Hoosac  and  Mont  Cenis  tunnels  greatly  stimulated  in- 
vention in  this  field,  and  among  the  notable  drills  of  this  class  may  be 
named  the  Burleigh,  Ingersoll,  and  Sergeant.  The  Burleigh  drill  was 
brought  out  in  1866,  and  was  covered  by  patents  Nos.  52,960,  52,961 
and  59,960  of  that  year,  and  113,850  of  1871,  and  the  Ingersoll  drill,  by 
patents  No.  112,254,  and  No.  120,279,  of  1871. 

Blasting. — The  discovery  of  nitro-glycerine  in  1846,  followed  by  its 
convenient  commercial  preparation  in  the  form  of  dynamite,  gave  a  great 
impetus  to  blasting.  Notable  as  the  largest  operation  of  the  kind  in  the 
century  is  the  blowing  up  of  Flood  Rock,  in  the  path  of  commerce  be- 
tween New  York  City  and  Long  Island  Sound.  The  dangerous  character 
of  this  and  other  rocks  in  this  vicinity  gave  long  ago  to  this  channel  the 
significant  name  of  Hell  Gate.  The  undermining  of  the  rocks  by  shafts 
and  galleries  is  seen  in  Fig.  233,  and  the  final  blowing  up  of  the  same 


352 


THE  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 


in  a  single  blast  was  the  culmination  of  a  series  of  similar  operations  at 
this  point  tending  to  safer  navigation.  On  October  10,  1885,  40,000  car- 
tridges, containing  75,000  pounds  of  dynamite  and  240,000  pounds  of 
rack-a-rock,  were,  by  the  touching  of  a  button  and  the  closing  of  an  elec- 
tric circuit,  simultaneously  exploded.  In  the  twinkling  of  an  eye  nine 
acres  of  solid  rock  were  shattered  into  fragments  by  the  prodigious  force, 
and  a  vast  upheaval  of  water  1,400  feet  long,  800  feet  \vide,  and  200  feet 
high,  sprang  into  the  air  in  tangled  and  gigantic  fountains.  As  the  ter- 


m 


mination  of  the  most  stupendous  piece  of  engineering  of  the  kind  the  world 
has  ever  seen,  and  with  spectacular  features  fitting  the  enormous  expense 
of  $1,000,000,  which  the  work  cost,  this  final  scene  put  an  end  to  the 
menaces  of  Flood  Rock,  and  wiped  out  of  existence  the 'worst  dangers 
of  Hell  Gate. 

Mississippi  Jetties. — The  broad  bar  and  shallow  waters  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Mississippi  involved  such  an  obstruction  to  commerce  that  in  1872 
it  received  the  attention  of  Congress,  resulting  in  the  building,  by  Capt. 
Eads,  of  the  celebrated  jetties.  They  were  begun  in  1875  and  finished  in 
1879,  and  cost  $5,250,000.  The  channel  obtained  was  30  feet  deep  and 
200  feet  wide.  Its  construction  involved  the  building  across  the  bar  and 
out  into,  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  two  long  reaches  of  parallel  embankments, 
called  jetties.  This  was  effected  by  sinking  mattresses  of  willow  branches 
bound  together  and  weighted  with  stone.  These  were  laid  in  four  lay- 
ers, and  when  submerged,  and  resting  upon  the  bottom,  were  covered  with 
a  layer  of  loose  stone,  and  this  in  turn  was  surmounted  with  a  capping 
of  concrete  blocks,  as  seen  in  cross  section  in  Fig.  234.  These  jetties  so 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH   CENTURY.  353 

concentrated  the  flow  of  waters  into  a  narrow  channel  as  to  cause  its 
increased  velocity  to  wash  out  the  mud  and  silt  and  deepen  the  channel. 
The  immensity  of  the  work  may  be  measured  by  the  quantity  of  material 
used  in  its  construction,  which  included  6,000,000  cubic  yards  of  willow 
mattresses,  1,000,000  cubic  yards  of  stone,  13,000,000  feet  (board  meas- 
ure) of  lumber,  and  8,000,000  cubic  yards  of  concrete.  The  mattresses 


;-LT_L  •p       "  r?        _  'f  ?   .  T-IL 


FIG.  234.  —  CROSS  SECTION  MISSISSIPPI  JETTIES. 

were  laid  35  to  50  feet  wide  at  the  bottom,  which  width  was  consider- 
ably increased  by  the  superimposed  layer  of  stone,  and  the  jetties  ex- 
tended 2*4  miles  into  the  sea.  Their  influence  upon  commerce  is  in- 
dicated by  the  fact  that  before  their  construction  the  annual  grain  export 
from  New  Orleans  was  less  than  half  a  million  bushels,  and  in  1880,  the 
year  following  their  completion,  it  was  increased  to  14,000,000  bushels. 

High  Buildings.  —  A  distinct  feature  of  modern  architecture  is  the 
enormously  tall  steel  frame  building  known  as  the  "sky  scraper."  The 
increasing  value  of  city  lots  first  brought  about  the  vertical  extension 
of  buildings  to  a  greater  number  of  stories,  and  the  necessity  for  making 
them  fireproof,  coupled  with  the  desire  to  avoid  loss  of  interior  space,  due 
to  thick  walls  at  the  base,  made  a  demand  for  a  different  style  of  archi- 
tecture. To  meet  this  a  skeleton  frame  of  steel  is  bolted  together  in 
unitary  structure,  the  floors  being  all  carried  on  the  steel  frame,  and  the 
outer  masonry  walls  being  relatively  thin,  and  carrying  only  their  own 
weight.  In  Fig.  235  is  shown  an  example  of  the  interior  structure  of 
such  a  building.  The  vertical  columns  are  erected  upon  a  very  firm 
foundation,  and  to  them  are  bolted,  on  the  floor  levels,  horizontal  I-beams 
and  girders,  stayed  by  tie  rods,  which  I-beams  receive  between  them  hollow 
fireproof  tile  to  form  the  floor.  The  outer  masonry  walls  are  built  around 
the  skeleton  frame,  as  seen  in  Fig.  236,  and  the  details  of  connections 
for  the  floor  members  appear  in  Fig.  237. 

The  construction   of  iron  buildings  began  about  the  middle  of  the 


354  THE  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 

century.     In  1845  Peter  Cooper  erected  the  largest  rolling  mill  at  that 


FIG.  235. — INTERIOR  CONSTRUCTION    MODERN   STEEL  BUILDING. 

time  in  the  United   States   for  making  railroad  iron,   and  at  this  mill 
wrought  iron  beams   for  fireproof  buildings   were  first  rolled.     In   the 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH   CENTURY. 


355 


building  of  the  Cooper  Institute  in  New  York 
first  to  employ  such  beams  with 
brick  arches  to  support  the  floors. 
The  unifying  of  the  iron  work  into 
an  integral  skeleton  frame,  for  re- 
lieving the  side  walls  of  the  weight 
of  the  floors  is,  however,  a  compara- 
tively recent  development,  and  this 
has  so  raised  the  height  of  the  mod- 
ern office  building  as  to  cause  it  to 
impress  the  observer  as  an  obelisk 
rather  than  a  place  of  habitation. 
An  earthquake-proof  steel  palace 
for  the  Crown  Prince  of  Japan  is 
one  of  the  modern  applications  of 
steel  in  architecture.  It  is  being 
built  by  American  engineers,  and  is 
to  cost  $3,000,000. 

Eiffel  Tower. — Loftiest  among 
the  high  structures  of  the  world, 
and  significant  as  indicating  the 
possibilities  of  iron  construction, 


City  in  1857  ne  was  tne 


FIG.    237. DETAILS   OF    INTERNAL    CONSTRUCTION. 


FIG.    236. — ENCLOSURE  OF   STEEL   FRAME 
BY  MASONRY. 


the  Eiffel  Tower  of 
the  Paris  Exposition 
of  1889  was  a  distinct 
achievement  in  the 
engineering  world.  It 
is  seen  in  Fig.  238.  It 
is  984  feet  high,  and 
410  feet  across  its 
foundation,  and  has  a 
supporting  base  of 
four  independent  lat- 
tice work  piers.  In 
the  top  was  construct- 
ed a  scientific  labora- 
tory surmounted  by  a 
lantern  containing  a 
powerful  electric 
light.  The  total 


356 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


weight  of  iron  in  the  structure  is  about  7,000  tons,  the  weight  of 
the  rivets  alone  being  450  tons,  and  the  total  number  of  them  2,500,000. 
The  level  of  the  first  story  is  marked  by  a  bold  frieze,  on  the  panels  of 
which,  around  all  four  faces,  were  inscribed  in  gigantic  letters  of  gold  the 

names  of  the  famous 
Frenchmen  of  the 
century.  The  summit 
of  the  tower  was 
reached  by  staircases 
containing i, 793  steps, 
and  by  hydraulic  ele- 
vators running  in 
four  stages.  The  cost 
of  this  structure  was 
nearly  $1,000,000. 

Washington's  Mon- 
ument. —  Next  in 
height  to  the  Eiffel 
Tower,  and  being,  in 
fact,  the  tallest  mas- 
onry structure  in  the 
world,  this  noble  obe- 
lisk, by  its  simplicity, 
boldness  and  solidity, 
challenges  the  admira- 
tion of  every  visitor, 
and  gratifies  the  pride 
of  every  patriot.  It  is 
seen  in  Fig.  239,  and 
is  555  feet  5^  inches 
high,  ^  feet  square  at 

FIG.   238.— THE  EIFFEL  TOWER.       HEIGHT,  984  FEET.      TALLEST         .,  &    ,    J<  - 

STRUCTURE  IN  THE  WORLD.  the  base,  and  34  feet 

square  at  the  top.  The 

walls  are  15  feet  thick  at  the  base,  and  18  inches  at  the  top, 
and  its  summit  is  reached  by  an  internal  winding  staircase  and  a  cen- 
tral elevator.  At  the  height  of  504  feet  the  walls  are  pierced  with  port 
holes,  from  which  a  magnificent  view  is  had  of  the  capital  city  and  sur- 
rounding country.  The  summit  is  crowned  with  a  cap  of  aluminum,  in- 
scribed Lans  Deo.  The  foundation  of  rock  and  cement  is  36  feet  deep 
and  126  feet  square,  and  the  total  cost  of  the  monument  was  $1,300,000. 


IN    THE   NINETEENTH   CEXTL'RY 


357 


The  corner  stone  was  laid  in  1848.  In 
1855  the  work  was  discontinued  at  the 
height  of  1 52  feet,  from  lack  of  funds.  In 
1878  it  was  resumed  by  appropriation 
from  Congress,  and  completed  and  dedi- 
cated in  1885,  under  the  direction  of  Col. 
Thomas  L.  Casey,  of  the  United  States 
Corps  of  Engineers. 

The  Capitol  Building. — Representing 
the  heart  of  the  great  American  Republic, 
and  overlooking  its  Capital  City,  this 
grand  building,  shown  in  Fig.  240,  is  a 
poem  in  architecture.  Massive,  symmet- 
rical and  harmonious,  its  highest  point 
reaches  307^/2  feet  above  the  plaza  on  the 
east.  It  is  751  feet  4  inches  long,  350  feet 
wide,  and  the  walls  of  the  building 
proper  cover  3^  acres.  Crowning  the 
center  of  the  building  is  the  imposing 
dome  of  iron,  surmounted  by  a  lantern, 
and  above  this  is  the  bronze  statue  of 
Freedom,  19  feet  6  inches  high,  and 


FIG.  239.— WASHINGTON'S  MONUMENT.     HEIGHT.  555  FEET,  5; 

HIGHEST   MASONRY  STRUCTURE  IN  THE   WORLD. 


358 


THE  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH   CENTURY.  359 

weighing  14,985  pounds,  the  latter  being  set  in  place  December  2,  1863. 
The  dome  is  135  feet  5  inches  in  diameter  at  the  base,  and  the  open  space 
of  the  rotunda  within  is  96  feet  in  diameter  and  180  feet  nigh. 

The  corner  stone  of  the  original  building  was  laid  in  1793  by  Wash- 
ington. The  first  session  of  Congress  held  there  was  in  1800,  while  the 
building  was  still  incomplete.  The  original  building  was  finished  in  1811. 
In  1814  it  was  partly  burned  by  the  British.  In  1815  reconstruction  was 
begun,  and  completed  in  1827.  In  1850  Congress  passed  an  act  authoriz- 
ing the  extension  of  the  Capitol,  which  resulted  in  the  building  of  the 
north  and  south  wings,  containing  the  present  Senate  Chamber  and  Hall 
of  the  House  of  Representatives.  The  corner  stones  of  the  extension  were 
laid  by  President  Fillmore  in  1851,  Daniel  Webster  being  the  orator  of 
the  occasion,  and  the  wings  were  finished  in  1867.  Since  this  time  hand- 
some additions  in  the  shape  of  marble  terraces  on  the  west  front  have 
added  greatly  to  the  beauty  and  apparent  size  of  the  building. 

It  is  not  possible  to  give  anything  like  an  adequate  review  of  the  en- 
gineering inventions  and  achievements  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  in  a 
single  chapter,  and  only  the  most  noteworthy  have  been  mentioned.  The 
modern  life  of  the  world,  however,  has  been  replete  with  the  resourceful 
expedients  of  the  engineer,  and  the  ingenious  instrumentalities  invented 
by  him  to  carry  out  his  plans.  There  have  been  about  1,000  patents 
granted  for  bridges,  about  2,500  for  excavating  apparatus,  and  about 
1.500  for  hydraulic  engineering.  In  mining  the  safety-lamp  of  Sir 
Humphrey  Davy,  in  1815,  has  been  followed  by  stamp  mills,  rock-drills, 
derricks,  and  hoisting  and  lowering  apparatus,  and  lately  by  hydraulic 
mining  apparatus,  by  which  a  stream  of  water  under  high  pressure  is 
made  to  wash  away  a  mountain  side.  Apparatus  for  loading  and  unload- 
ing, pneumatic  conveyors,  great  systems  of  irrigation,  lighthouses,  break- 
waters,  pile  drivers,  dry-docks,  ship  railways,  road-making  apparatus,  fire 
escapes,  fireproof  buildings,  water  towers,  and  filtration  plants  have  been 
devised,  constructed  and  utilized.  Many  gigantic  schemes,  already  begun, 
still  await  successful  completion,  among  which  may  be  named  the  drain- 
ing of  the  Zuyder  Zee,  the  Siberian  railway,  the  Panama  and  Nicaraguan 
Canals,  the  Simplon  tunnel,  the  new  East  River  Bridge,  and  the  Rapid 
Transit  Tunnel  under  Xew  York  City;  while  a  bridge  or  tunnel  across 
the  English  Channel,  a  ship  canal  for  France,  connecting  the  Bay  of  Biscay 
with  the  Mediterranean,  a  tunnel  under  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar,  and  a 
ship  canal  connecting  the  great  lakes  with  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  are  among 
the  possible  achievements  which  challenge  the  engineer  of  the  Twentieth 
Century. 


360  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 
WOODWORK:  XG. 

EARLY  MACHINES  OF  SIR  SAMUEL  BENTHAM — EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SAW — CIRCULAR 
SAW — HAMMERING  TO  TENSION — STEAM  FEED  FOR  SAW  MILL  CARRIAGE — QUAR- 
TER SAWING — THE  BAND  SAW — PLANING  MACHINES — THE  WOODWORTH  PLANER 
— THE  WOODBURY  YIELDING  PRESSURE  BAR— THE  UNIVERSAL  WOODWORKER— THE 
BLANCHARD  LATHE — MORTISING  MACHINES— SPECIAL  WOODWORKING  MACHINES. 

SURROUNDED  as  we  are  in  the  modern  home  with  beautiful  and 
artistic  furniture,  and  installed  in  comfortable  and  inexpensive 
houses,  one  does  not  appreciate  the  contrast  which  the  life  of  the 
average  citizen  of  to-day  presents  to  that  of  his  great-grandfather 
in  the  matter  of  his  dwelling  house  appointments.  A  hundred  years  ago 
most  of  the  dwellings  of  the  middle  and  poorer  classes  were  crudely  made, 
with  clap-boards  and  joists  laboriously  hewn  with  the  broad  ax,  and  the 
roof  was  covered  with  split  shingles.  Uncouth  and  clumsy  doors,  win- 
dows and  blinds,  were  framed  on  the  simplest  utilitarian  basis,  and  a 
scanty  supply  of  rude  hand-made  furniture  imperfectly  filled  the  simple 
wants  of  the  home.  To-day  nearly  every  cottage  has  beautifully  moulded 
trimmings,  paneled  doors,  handsomely  carved  mantels  and  turned  balus- 
ters, all  furnished  at  an  insignificant  price,  and  art  has  so  added  its 
aesthetic  values  to  the  furniture  and  other  useful  things  in  wood,  that 
beautiful,  artistic  and  tasteful  homes  are  no  longer  confined  to  the  rich, 
but  may  be  enjoyed  by  all.  This  great  change  has  been  brought  about 
by  the  sawmill,  the  planing  machine,  mortising  and  boring  machines,  and 
the  turning  lathe. 

Pre-eminent  in  the  field  of  woodworking  machinery,  and  worthy  to 
be  called  the  father  of  the  art,  is  to  be  mentioned  the  name  of  Gen.  Sir 
Samuel  Bentham,  of  England,  whose  inventions  in  the  last  decade  of 
the  Eighteenth  Century  formed  the  nucleus  of  the  modern  art  of  wood- 
working. 

The  Sazv  was  the  great  pioneer  in  woodworking  machinery,  and  the 
circular  saw  has,  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  been  the  representative  type. 
Pushing  its  way  along  the  outskirts  of  civilization,  its  glistening  and  ap- 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH   CENTURY. 


361 


patently  motionless  disk,  filled  with  a  hidden,  but  terrific  energy,  and 
singing  a  merry  tune  in  the  clearings,  has  transformed  trees  into  tene- 
ments, forests  into  firesides,  and  altered  the  face  of  the  earth,  the  record 
of  its  work  being  only  measured  by  the  immensity  of  the  forests  which 
it  has  depleted.  It  is  not  possible  to  fix  the  date  of  the  first  circular  saw, 
for  rotary  cutting  action  dates  from  the  ancient  turning  lathes.  The 
earliest  description  of  a  circular  saw  is  to  be  found  in  the  British  patent 
to  Miller,  No.  1,152,  of  1777.  It  was  not  until  the  Nineteenth  Century, 
however,  that  it  was  generally  applied,  and  its  great  work  belongs  to  this 
period.  The  preceding  saws  were  of  the  straight,  reciprocating  kind. 
The  old  pit-saw  is  the  earliest  form,  and  in  course  of  time  the  men  were 
replaced  by  machinery  to  form  the  "muley"  saw,  the  man  in  the  pit  being 
replaced  by  a  mechanical  "pitman,"  which  accounts  for  the  etymology 


FIG.    241.— PORTABLE   CIRCULAR    SAW. 

of  the  word.  With  the  "muley"  saw  the  log  was  held  at  each  end.  and 
each  end  shifted  alternately  to  set  for  a  new  cut.  The  first  development 
was  along  the  lines  of  this  form  of  saw,  and  to  increase  its  efficiency  the 
saws  were  arranged  in  gangs,  so  as  to  make  a  number  of  cuts  at  one 
pass  of  the  log.  This  type  was  especially  used  in  Europe,  but  on  the 
up  stroke  there  was  no  work  being  done,  and  hence  half  of  the  time  was 
lost.  This  and  other  difficulties  led  finally  to  the  adoption  of  the  circular 
type,  whose  continuous  cut  and  high  speed  saved  much  time  and  present- 


362  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

ed  many  other  advantages.  A  representative  example  of  the  circular 
saw  is  given  in  Fig.  241. 

With  the  increased  diameter  and  peripheral  speed  of  the  circular  saw, 
however,  a  grave  difficulty  presented  itself.  The  saw  would  heat  at  its 
periphery,  and  its  rim  portion  expanding  without  commensurate  expan- 
sion of  the  central  portion,  would  cause  the  saw  to  crack  and  fly  to  pieces 
under  the  tremendous  centrifugal  force.  This  difficulty  is  provided  for 
by  what  is  known  as  "hammering  to  tension,"  i.  e.,  the  saw  is  hammered 
to  a  gradually  increasing  state  of  compression  from  the  rim  to  the  center, 
thus  causing  an  initial  expansion  or  spread  of  the  molecules  of  metal  of 
the  central  parts  of  the  saw,  which  is  stored  up  as  an  elastic  expansive 
force  that  accommodates  itself  to  the  tension  caused  by  the  expansion  of 
the  rim,  and  prevents  the  unequal  and  destructive  strain,  due  to  the  ex- 
pansion of  the  rim  from  the  great  heat  of  friction  in  passing  through 
the  log. 

Mounted  upon  a  portable  frame,  this  machine  was  put  to  its  great  work 
upon  the  logs  in  the  forests  of  America,  and  for  many  years  this  type 
of  sawmill  held  its  sway,  and  an  enormous  amount  of  work  was  done 
through  its  agency.  Among  its  useful  accessories  were  the  set-works  for 
adjusting  the  log  holding  knees  to  the  position  for  a  new  cut,  log  turners 
for  rotating  the  log  to  change  the  plane  of  the  cut,  and  the  rack  and 
pinion  feed,  by  which  the  saw  carriage  was  run  back  and  forth.  Follow- 
ing the  rack  and  pinion  feed  came  the  rope  feed,  in  which  a  rope  wrapped 
around  a  drum  was  carried  at  its  opposite  ends  over  pulleys  and  back 


FIG.   242. — DIRECT-ACTING   STEAM   FEED   SAWMILL   CARRIAGE. 

to  the  opposite  ends  of  the  carriage,  which  was  thereby  carried  back  and 
forth  by  the  forward  or  backward  movement  of  the  drum. 

The  greatest  advance  in  sawmills  in  recent  years,  however,  has  been 
the  steam  feed,  in  which  a  very  long  steam  cylinder  was  provided  with  a 
piston,  whose  long  rod  was  directly  attached  to  the  saw  carriage,  and 
the  latter  moved  back  and  forth  by  the  admission  of  steam  alternately 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH   CENTURY. 


363 


to  opposite  sides  of  the  piston.  This  type  of  feed,  also  known  as  the 
shot  gun  feed,  from  the  resemblance  of  the  long  cylinder  to  a  gun  barrel, 
was  invented  about  twenty-five  years  ago,  by  De  Witt  C.  Prescott,  and 
is  covered  by  his  patent,  No.  174,004,  February  22,  1876,  later  improve- 
ments being  shown  in  his  patent,  No.  360,972,  April  12,  1887.  The  value 
of  the  steam  feed  was  to  increase  the  speed  and  efficiency  of  the  saw,  by 


FIG.   243.— METHOD  OF  SHAPING  AND  HOLDING  LOG  FOR  QUARTER  SAWING. 


expediting  the  movement  of  its  carriage,  as  many  as  six  boards  per  minute 
being  cut  by  its  aid  from  a  log  of  average  length.  An  example  of  a 
modern  steam  feed  for  sawmill  carriages  is  seen  in  Fig.  242.  With  the 
modern  development  of  the  art  the  ease  and  rapidity  of  steam  action  have 
recommended  it  for  use  in  most  all  of  the  work  of  the  sawmill,  and  the 


364 


THE  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 


direct  application  of  steam  pistons  working  in  cylinders  has  been  utilized 
for  canting,  kicking,  flipping  and  rolling  the  logs,  lifting  the  stock,  taking 
away  the  boards,  etc. 

Beautifully  finished  furniture  in  quartered  oak  has  always  excited  the 
pleasure,  and  piqued  the  curiosity  of  the  uninformed  as  to  how  this  result 
is  obtained.  Fig.  243  illustrates  the  method  of  sawing  to  produce  this 
effect.  The  log  is.  simply  divided  longitudinally  into  four  quarters,  and 
the  quarter  sections  are  then  cut  by  the  vertical  plane  of  the  saw  at  an 
oblique  angle  to  the  sawed  sides,  which  brings  to  the  surface  of  the  boards 
the  peculiar  flecks  or  patches  of  the  wood's  grain  so  much  admired  when 
finished  and  polished. 

The  Band  Saw  is  an  endless  belt  of  steel  having  teeth  formed  along 
one  edge  and  traveling  continuously  around  an  upper  and  lower  pulley, 
with  its  toothed  edge  presented  to  the  timber  to  be  cut,  as  seen  in  Fig. 
244,  which  represents  a  form  of  band  saw  made  by  the  J.  A.  Fay  & 

Egan  Company,  of  Cincinnati.  A 
form  of  band  saw  is  found  as  early 
as  1808,  in  British  patent  No.  3,105, 
to  Newberry.  On  March  25,  1834, 
a  French  patent  was  granted  for  a 
band  saw  to  Etiennot,  No.  3,397. 
The  first  United  States  patent  for  a 
band  saw  was  granted  to  B.  Barker, 
January  6,  1836,  but  it  remained  for 
the  last  quarter  of  the  Nineteenth 
Century  to  give  the  band  saw  its 
prominence  in  woodworking  ma- 
chines. That  it  did  not  find  general 
application  at  an  earlier  period  was 
due  to  the  difficulty  experienced  in 
securely  and  evenly  joining  the 
ends  of  the  band.  For  many 
years  the  only  moderately  suc- 
cessful band  saws  were  made  in 
France,  but  expert  mechanical  skill  has  so  mastered  the  problem  that 
in  recent  years  the  band  saw  has  gone  to  the  very  front  in  wood-sawing 
machinery.  To-day  it  is  in  service  in  sizes  from  a  delicate  filament,  used 
for  scroll  sawing  and  not  larger  than  a  baby's  ribbon,  to  an  enormous 
steel  belt  50  feet  in  peripheral  measurement,  and  12  inches  wide,  travel- 
ing over  pulleys  8  feet  in  diameter,  making  500  revolutions  per  minute, 


FIG.   244.— AUTOMATIC  BAND  RIP  SAW. 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  365 

and  tearing  its  way  through  logs  much  too  large  for  any  circular  saw, 
at  the  rate  of  nearly  two  miles  a  minute.  A  modern  form  of  such  a  saw 
is  seen  in  Fig.  245.  Prescott's  patents,  Nos.  368,731  and  369,881,  of  1887 ; 


FIG.  245. — MODERN  BAND  SAW  FOR  LARGE  TIMBER. 

416,012,  of  1889,  and  472,586  and  478,817,  of  1892,  represent  some  of 
the  important  developments  in  the  band  saw. 

When  the  band  saw  is  applied  to  cutting  logs  the  backward  move- 
ment of  the  carriage  would,  if  there  were  any  slivers  on  the  cut  face  of 
the  log,  be  liable  to  force  those  slivers  against  the  smooth  edge  of  the 
band  saw,  and  distort  and  possibly  break  it.  To  obviate  this  the  saw 
carriage  is  provided  with  a  lateral  adjustment  on  the  back  movement 
called  an  "off-set,"  so  that  the  log  returns  for  a  new  cut  out  of  contact 
with  the  saw.  Examples  of  such  off-setting  are  found  in  patents  to 
Gowen,  No.  383,460,  May  29.  1888,  and  No.  401,945,  April  23,  1889, 
and  Hinkley,  No.  368,669,  August  23,  1887.  A  modern  form  of  the 
band  saw,  however,  has  teeth  on  both  its  edges,  which  requires  no  off- 
setting mechanism,  but  cuts  in  both  directions.  An  example  of  this, 


366  THE  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 

known  as  the  telescopic  band  mill,  is  made  by  the  Edward  P.  Allis  Com- 
pany, of  Milwaukee. 

A  saw  which  planes,  as  well  as  severs,  is  shown  in  patents  to  Doug- 
lass, Nos.  431,510,  July  i,  1890,  and  542,630,  July  16,  1895.  Steam 
power  mechanism  for  operating  the  knees  is  shown  in  patent  to  Wilkin, 
No.  317,256,  May  5,  1885.  Means  for  quarter  sawing  in  both  directions 
of  log  travel  are  shown  in  patent  to  Gray,  No.  550,825,  December  3, 
1895.  Means  for  operating  log  turners  and  log  loaders  appear  in  patents 
to  Hill,  No.  496,938,  May  9,  1893;  No.  466,682,  January  5,  1892;  Xo. 
526,624,  September  25,  1894,  and  Kelly,  No.  497,098,  May  9,  1893.  A 
self  cooling  circular  saw  is  found  in  patent  to  Jenks,  No.  193,004,  July 
10,  1877;  shingle  sawing  machines  in  patents  to  O'Connor,  No.  358,474, 
March  I,  1887,  and  No.  292,347,  January  22,  1884,  and  Perkins,  No. 
380,346,  April  3,  1888 ;  and  means  for  severing  veneer  spirally  and  divid- 
ing it  into  completed  staves,  are  shown  in  patent  to  Hayne,  No.  509,534, 
November  28,  1893. 

Planing  Machines. — While  the  saw  plays  the  initial  part  of  shaping 
the  rough  logs  into  lumber,  it  is  to  the  planing  machine  that  the  refine- 
ments of  woodworking  are  due.  Its  rapidly  revolving  cutter  head  re- 
duces the  uneven  thickness  of  the  lumber  to  an  exact  gauge,  and  simul- 
taneously imparts  the  fine  smooth  surface.  The  planing  machine  is 
organized  in  various  shapes  for  different  uses.  When  the  cutters  are 
straight  and  arranged  horizontally,  it  is  a  simple  planer.  When  the  cut- 
ters are  short  and  arranged  to  work  on  the  edge  of  the  board  they  are 
known  as  edgers;  when  the  edges  are  cut  into  tongues  and  grooves  it 
is  called  a  matching  machine;  and  when  the  cutters  have  a  curved  orna- 
mental contour  it  is  known  as  a  molding  machine,  and  is  used  for  cut- 
ting the  ornamental  contour  for  house  trimmings  and  various  orna- 
mental uses. 

The  planing  machine  was  one  of  the  many  woodworking  devices  in- 
vented by  General  Bentham.  His  first  machine,  British  patent  No.  1,838, 
of  1791,  was  a  reciprocating  machine,  but  in  his  British  patent  No. 
1,951,  of  1793,  he  described  the  rotary  form  along  with  a  great  variety 
of  other  woodworking  machinery. 

Bramah's  planer,  British  patent  No.  2,652,  of  1802,  was  about  the 
first  planing  machine  of  the  Nineteenth  Century.  It  is  known  as  a 
transverse  planer,  the  cutters  being  on  the  lower  surface  of  a  horizontal 
disc,  which  is  fixed  to  a  vertical  revolving  shaft,  and  overhangs  the  board 
passing  beneath  it,  the  cutters  revolving  in  a  plane  parallel  with  the 
upper  surface  of  the  board.  The  planing  machine  of  Muir,  of  Glasgow. 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH   CENTURY.  367 

British  patent  No.  5,502,  of  1827,  was  designed  for  making  boards  for 
flooring,  and  represented  a  considerable  advance  in  the  art. 

With  the  greater  wooded  areas  of  America,  the  rapid  growth  of  the 
young  republic,  and  the  resourceful  spirit  of  its  new  civilization,  the  lead- 
ing activities  in  woodworking  machinery  were  in  the  second  quarter  of 
the  Nineteenth  Century  transferred  to  the  United  States,  and  a  phenom- 
enal growth  in  this  art  ensued.  Conspicuous  among  the  early  planing 
machine  patents  in  the  United  States  was  that  granted  to  William  W'ood- 
worth,  December  27,  1828.  This  covered  broadly  the  combination  of 
the  cutting  cylinders,  and  rolls  for  holding  the  boards  against  the  cut- 
ting cylinders,  and  also  means  for  tongueing  and  grooving  at  one  oper- 
ation. The  revolving  cutting  cylinder  had  been  used  by  Bentham  thirty- 
five  years  before,  and  rollers  for  feeding  lumber  to  circular  saws  were  de- 
scribed in  Hammond's  British  patent  No.  3,459,  of  1811,  but  Woodworth 
did  not  employ  his  rolls  for  feeding,  as  a  rack  and  pinion  were  provided 
for  that,  but  his  rolls  had  a  co-active  relation  with  a  planer  cylinder,  or 
cutter  head,  in  holding  the  board  against  the  tendency  of  the  cutter  head 
to  pull  the  board  toward  it.  A  patent  was  granted  to  Woodworth  for 
these  two  features  in  combination,  which  patent  was  reissued  July  8, 
1845,  twice  extended,  and  for  a  period  of  twenty-eight  years  from  its 
first  grant,  exerted  an  oppressive  monopoly  in  this  art,  since  it  cov- 
ered the  combination  of  the  two  necessary  elements  of  every  practical 
planer. 

Following  the  Woodworth  patent  came  a  host  of  minor  improvements, 
among  which  were  the  Woodbury  patents,  extending  through  the  period 
of  the  third  quarter  of  the  Nineteenth  Century,  and  prominent  among 
which  is  the  patent  to  J.  P.  Woodbury,  No.  138,462,  April  20,  1873, 
covering  broadly  a  rotary  cutter  head  combined  with  a  yielding  pressure 
bar  to  hold  the  board  against  the  lifting  action  of  the  cutter  head. 

In  modern  planing  machinery  the  climax  of  utility  is  reached  in  the 
so-called  universal  woodworker].  This  is  the  versatile  Jack-of-all-work 
in  the  planing  mill.  It  planes  flat,  moulded,  rabbeted,  or  beaded  sur- 
faces ;  'it  saws  with  both  the  rip  and  crosscut  action ;  it  cuts  tongues  and 
grooves ;  makes  miters,  chamfers,  wedges,  mortises  and  tenons,  and  is  the 
general  utility  machine  of  the  shop. 

In  Fig.  246  is  shown  a  well  known  form  of  planing  machine.  Its 
work  is  to  plane  the  surfaces  of  boards,  and  to  cut  the  edges  into  tongues 
and  groves,  such  as  are  required  for  flooring.  This  machine  planes 
boards  up  to  24  inches  wide  and  6  inches  thick,  and  will  tongue  and 
grove  14  inches  wide. 


368 


THE  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 


Wood  Turning. — To  this  ancient  art  Blanchard  added,  in  1819,  his 
very  ingenious  and  important  improvement  for  turning  irregular  forms. 
A  few  efforts  at  irregular  turning  had  been  made  before,  but  in  the  arts 
generally  only  circular  forms  had  been  turned.  With  Blanchard's  im- 
provement, patented  January  20,  1820,  any  irregular  form,  such  as  a 
shoe-last,  gun-stock,  ax-handle,  wheel-spokes,  etc.,  could  be  smoothly 


FIG.    246.— 24-INCH    SINGLE    SURFACER    AND    MATCHER. 

and  expeditiously  turned  and  finished  in  any  required  shape.  In  the  ordi- 
nary lathe  the  work  is  revolved  rapidly,  and  the  cutting  tool  is  held 
stationary,  or  only  slowly  shifted  in  the  hand.  In  the  Blanchard  lathe 
the  work  is  hung  in  a  swinging  frame,  and  turned  very  slowly  to  bring 
its  different  sides  to  the  cutting  action,  and  the  cutting  tool  is  constructed 
as  a  rapidly  revolving  disk,  against  which  the  work  is  projected  bodily 
by  the  oscillation  of  the  swinging  frame,  to  accommodate  the  irregular- 
ities of  the  form.  In  order  to  do  this  automatically,  a  pattern  or  model 
of  the  article  to  be  turned  was  also  hung  in  the  swinging  frame,  and  made 
to  slowly  revolve  and  bear  against  a  pattern  wheel,  which,  acting  upon 
the  swinging  frame  carrying  the  work,  caused  it  to  advance  to  or  recede 
from  the  cutting  disc  exactly  in  proportion  to  the  contour  of  the  model, 
and  thus  cause  the  revolving  cutters  to  cut  the  block  as  it  turns  synchron- 
ously with  the  model,  to  a  shape  exactly  corresponding  to  said  model. 

In  Fig.  247  is  shown  a  perspective  view  of  Blanchard's  lathe,  as  patent- 
ed January  20,  1820.  H  is  a  swinging  frame,  carrying  the  model  T 
of  a  shoe  last,  and  a  roughed-out  block  U,  partly  converted  into  a  shoe 
last.  A  sliding  frame,  fed  horizontally  by  a  screw,  carries  a  pattern 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH,  CENTURY. 


369 


wheel  K,  that  bears  against  the  pattern  T,  and  a  rotary  cutter  E,  acting 
against  the  roughed-out  block  U.  The  revolving  disk-shaped  cutter  E  is 
rotated  by  a  pulley  and  belt  from  a  drum,  which  latter  is  made  long 
enough  to  accommodate  the  travel  of  the  frame.  The  pattern  T  and  block 
U  are  advanced  to  contact  respectively,  with  pattern  wheel  K  and  cutter 
E  by  the  swinging  ac- 
tion of  frame  H,  and 
as  the  pattern  T  and 
block  U  are  slowly  re- 
volved, the  travel  of 
T  against  K  is  made 
to  react  on  frame  H 
and  regulate  the  ad- 
vance of  U  against  E, 
with  the  result  that 
the  rough  block  U  is 
cut  to  the  identical 
shape  of  the  pattern 
T. 

Among  modern  de- 
velopments in  this  art 
may  be  mentioned  the 
patents  to  Kimball, 
No.  471,006,  March 
15,  1892,  and  No. 
498,170,  May  23, 
1893,  the  latter  showing  ingenious  means  whereby  shoe  lasts  of  the  same 
length,  but  varying  widths,  may  be  turned.  A  polygonal-form  lathe  is 
shown  in  patent  to  Merritt,  No.  504,812,  September  12,  1893;  a  multiple 
•lathe  in  patents  to  Albee,  No.  429,297,  June  3,  1890,  and  Aram,  No. 
550,401,  November  26,  1895 ;  a  tubular  lathe  in  patent  to  Lenhart,  No. 
355,540,  January  4,  1887;  and  a  spiral  cutting  lathe  in  patent  to  Mack- 
intosh, No.  396,283,  January  15,  1889. 

Mortising  Machines  have  exercised  an  important  influence  in  mill 
work  in  the  joining  of  the  stiles  in  doors,  sashes  and  blinds,  and  in  the 
making  of  furniture.  The  Fay  &  Egan  machine  is  seen  in  Fig.  248.  The 
self  acting  mortising  machine  was  among  the  numerous  early  contribu- 
tions of  Gen.  Bentham  in  woodworking  machinery,  and  was  described  in 
his  British  patent  No.  1,951,  of  1793,  a  number  of  them  having  been 
made  by  him  for  the  British  Admiralty.  Brunei's  mortising  machine  for 


FIG.  247. — BLANCHARD  LATHE. 


370 


THE  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 


making  ships'  blocks  is  another  early  form  described  in  British  patent  No. 
2,478,  of  1 80 1.  As  representing  novel  departures  in  this  art,  the  end- 
less chain  mortising  machine  shown  in  Douglas  patent,  No.  379,566,  March 
20,  1888,  may  be  mentioned,  and  reissue  patent,  No.  10,655,  October  27, 
1885,  to  Oppenheimer,  and  No.  461,666,  October  20, 
1891,  to  Charlton,  are  examples  of  mortising  augers. 
Special  Woodworking  Machines. — Of  these 
there  have  been  great  numbers  and  variety.  No 
sooner  does  an  article  become  extensively  used  than 
a  machine  is  made  for  turning  it  out  automatically. 
Indeed,  machines  for  cheaply  turning  out  articles 
have,  in  many  cases,  led  the  way  to  popular  use  of 
the  article  by  the  extreme  cheapness  of  its  produc- 
tion. 

Among  various  automatic  machines  for  making 
special  articles  may  be  mentioned  those  for  making 
clothes  pins,  scooping  out  wood  trays,  pointing 
skewers,  dovetailing  box  blanks,  cutting  sash  stile 
pockets,  cutting  and  packing  toothpicks,  making 
matches,  boxing  matches,  duplicating  carvings,  cut- 
ting bungs,  cutting  corks,  making  umbrella  sticks, 
making  brush  blocks,  boring  chair  legs,  screw-driv- 
ing machines,  box  nailing  machines,  making  cigar  boxes,  nailing  baskets, 
wiring  box  blanks,  applying  slats,  gluing  boxes,  gluing  slate  frames,  mak- 
ing veneers,  bushing  mortises,  covering  piano  hammers,  making  staves 
and  barrels,  making  fruit  baskets,  etc. 

It  is  impossible  to  give  in  any  brief  review  a  proper  conception  of  the 
immensity  of  the  woodworking  industry  in  the  United  States.  It  is 
estimated  in  the  Patent  Office  that  about  8,000  patents  have  been  granted 
for  woodworking  machines.  Besides  this  there  are  about  5,000  patents 
in  the  separate  class  of  wood  sawing,  about  an  equal  number  for  wood- 
working tools,  and  these,  with  other  patented  inventions  in  wood  turning, 
coopering,  or  the  making  of  barrels,  wheelwrighting,  and  other  minor 
classes,  give  some  idea  of  the  activity  in  this  great  field  of  industry. 

The  exports  of  wood  and  wooden  manufactures  from  the  United 
States  in  1899  amounted  to  $41,489,526,  of  which  $15,031,176  were  for 
finished  boards,  $4,107,350  for  barrels,  staves  and  heads,  and  $3,571,375 
for  household  furniture,  but  this  is  only  an  insignificant  portion,  for  with 
a  prosperous  country,  an  abundance  of  wood,  and  a  thrifty  and  ambitious 
nation  of  home  builders,  the  home  consumption  has  been  incalculable. 


FIG.    248. — MORTISING 
MACHINE. 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH   CENTURY.  371 


CHAPTER   XXIX. 
METAL  WORKING. 

EARLY  IRON  FURNACE — OPERATIONS  OF  LORD  DUDLEY,  ABRAHAM  DARBY  AND  HENRY 
CORT— NEILSON'S  HOT  BLAST — GREAT  BLAST  FURNACES  OF  MODERN  TIMES — THE 
PUDDLING  FURNACE — BESSEMER  STEEL  AND  THE  CONVERTER — OPEN  HEARTH 
STEEL — SIEMENS'  REGENERATIVE  FURNACE — SIEMENS-MARTIN  PROCESS — ARMOR 
PLATE — MAKING  HORSE  SHOES — SCREWS  AND  SPECIAL  MACHINES — ELECTRIC 
WELDING,  ANNEALING  AND  TEMPERING — COATING  WITH  METAL — METAL  FOUND- 
ING— BARBED  WIRE  MACHINES — MAKING  NAILS,  PINS,  ETC. — MAKING  SHOT- 
ALLOYS — MAKING  ALUMINUM,  AND  METALLURGY  OF  RARER  METALS — THE 
CYANIDE  PROCESS — ELECTRIC  CONCENTRATOR. 

TAKE  away  iron  and  steel  from  the  resources  of  modern  life,  and 
the  whole  fabric  of  civilization  disintegrates.  The  railroad, 
steam  engine  and  steamship,  the  dynamo  and  electric  motor, 
the  telegraph  and  telephone,  agricultural  implements  of  all 
sorts,  grinding  mills,  spinning  machines  and  looms,  battleships  and  fire- 
arms, stoves  and  furnaces,  the  printing  press,  and  tools  of  all  sorts — 
each  and  every  one  would  be  robbed  of  its  essential  basic  material,  with- 
out which  it  cannot  exist.  Steam  and  electricity  may  be  the  heart  and 
soul  of  the  world's  life,  but  iron  is  its  great  body.  King  among  metals, 
it  gives  its  name  to  the  present  cycle,  as  the  "Iron  Age,"  and  the  Nine- 
teenth Century  has  crowned  it  with  such  refinements  of  shape,  and  en- 
dowed it  with  such  attributes  of  utility,  and  such  grandeur  of  estate, 
that  its  powers  in  organized  machinery  have,  for  effective  service,  risen 
to  all  the  functions  and  dignity  of  human  capacity — except  that  of  thought. 
A  crude  gift  of  nature,  in  the  mountain  side,  it  remained,  however, 
a  sodden  mass  until  extracted,  refined,  and  wrought  into  shape  by  the 
genius  of  man.  Yielding  to  the  magical  touch  of  invention,  it  has  been 
cast  in  moulds  into  cannon,  mills,  plowshares,  and  ten  thousand  articles; 
it  has  been  drawn  into  wire  of  any  fineness  and  length  to  form  cables 
for  great  suspension  bridges;  it  has  been  rolled  into  rails  that  grill  the 
continents ;  into  sheets  that  cover  our  roofs ;  and  into  nails  that  hold  our 
houses  together.  It  has  been  wrought  into  a  softness  that  lends  its 
susceptible  nature  to  the  influence  of  magnetism,  and  has  been  hardened 
into  steel  to  form  the  sword  and  cutting  tool.  From  the  delicate  hair 


372 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


spring  of  a  watch  to  the  massive  armor  plate  of  a  battleship,  it  finds  end- 
less applications,  and  is  nature's  most  enduring  gift  to  man — abundant, 
cheap,  and  lasting. 

Metallurgy  is  an  ancient  art,  and  the  working  of  gold,  silver  and  cop- 
per dates  back  to  the  beginning  of  history.  Being  found  in  a  condition 
of  comparative  purity,  and  needing  but  little  refinement,  they  were,  for 
that  reason,  the  first  metals  fashioned  to  meet  the  wants  of  man.-  Iron, 
somewhat  more  refractory,  appeared  later,  but  it  also  has  an  early  his- 
tory, and  is  mentioned  in  the  Old  Testament  of  the  Bible  (Genesis  iv.,  22), 
in  which  reference  is  made  to  Tubal  Cain  as  an  artificer  in  brass  and  iron. 
The  iron  bedstead  of  Og,  King  of  Bashan,  is  another  reference.  That 
it  was  known  to  the  Egyptians  and  the  Greeks  at  least  1000  B.  C.,  seems 
reasonably  certain.  The  Assyrians  were  also  acquainted  with  iron,  as 
is  clearly  established  by  the  explorations  of  Mr.  Layard,  whose  contribu- 
tions to  the  British  Museum  of  iron  articles  from  the  ruins  of  Ninevah 
include  saws,  picks,  hammers,  and  knives  of  iron,  which  are  believed 
to  be  of  a  date  not  later  than  880  B.  C. 

Iron  ore  is  usually  found  in  the  form  of  an  oxide  (hematite),  and 
its  reduction  to  the 
metallic  form  consists 
in  displacing  the  oxy- 
gen, which  is  effected 
by  mixing  carbon  in 
some  form  with  the 
ore.  and  subjecting 
the  mixture  to  a  high 
heat  by  means  of  a 
blast.  The  carbon 
unites  with  the  oxy- 
gen and  forms  car- 
bonic acid  gas,  which 
escapes,  while  the 
metallic  iron  fuses 
and  runs  out  at  the 
bottom  of  the  furnace, 
and  when  collected 
in  trough  -  shaped 
moulds,  is  known  as 
pig  iron. 

The  first  iron  furnaces  were  known  as  air  bloomeries,  and  had  no 


FIG.    249. — PRIMITIVE    IRON    FURNACE   OF    HINDOSTAN. 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH   CENTURY.  373 

forced  draft.  The  first  step  of  importance  in  iron  making  was  the  forced 
blast.  An  early  form  of  blast  furnace  is  shown  in  Fig.  249,  which  rep- 
resents an  iron  furnace  of  the  Kols,  a  tribe  of  iron  smelters  in  Lower 
Bengal  and  Orissa.  An  inclined  tray  terminates  at  its  lower  end  in  a 
furnace  inclosure.  Charcoal  in  the  furnace  being  well  ignited,  ore  and 
charcoal  resting  on  the  tray  are  alternately  raked  into  the  furnace.  The 
blowers  are  two  boxes,  connected  to  the  furnace  by  bamboo  pipes,  and 
provided  with  skin  covers,  which  are  alternately  depressed  by  the  feet 
and  raised  by  cords  from  the  spring  poles.  Each  skin  cover  has  a  hole 
in  the  middle,  which  is  stopped  by  the  heel  of  the  workman  as  the  weight 
of  the  person  is  thrown  upon  it,  and  is  left  open  by  the  withdrawal  of 
the  foot  as  the  cover  is  raised.  The  heels  of  the  workman,  alternately 
raised,  form  alternately  acting  valves,  and  the  skin  cover,  when  depressed, 
acts  as  a  bellows.  The  fused  metal  sinks  to  a  basin  in  the  bottom  of 
the  furnace,  and  the  slag  or  impurities  run  off  above  the  level  of  the 
basin  at  the  side  of  the  furnace. 

The  great  modern  art  of  iron  working  dates  from  Lord  Dudley's 
British  patent,  No.  18,  of  1621,  which  related  to  "The  mistery,  arte,  way 
and  meanes  of  melting  iron  owre,  and  of  makeing  the  same  into  cast 
workes  or  barrs  with  seacoales  or  pittcoales  in  furnaces  with  bellowes 
of  as  good  condicon  as  hath  bene  heretofore  made  of  charcoale." 

The  next  step  of  importance  after  the  blast  furnace  was  the  substitu- 
tion of  coke  for  coal  for  the  reduction  of  the  ore,  which  was  introduced 
by  Abraham  Darby,  about  1750. 

Next  came  the  conversion  of  cast  iron  into  wrought  iron..  This  was 
mainly  the  work  of  Mr.  Henry  Cort,  of  Gosport,  England,  who,  in  1783-84, 
introduced  the  processes  of  puddling  and  rolling,  which  were  two  of  the 
most  important  inventions  connected  with  the  production  of  iron  since 
the  employment  of  the  blast  furnace.  Mr.  Cort  obtained  British  patents 
No.  1,351,  of  1783,  and  No.  1,420,  of  1784,  for  his  invention.  His  first 
patent  related  to  the  hammering,  welding,  and  rolling  of  the  iron,  while 
in  his  second  patent  he  introduced  what  is  known  as  the  reverberatory 
furnace,  having  a  concave  bottom,  into  which  the  fluid  metal  is  run  from 
the  smelting  furnace,  and  which  is  converted  from  brittle  cast  iron,  con- 
taining a  certain  per  cent,  of  carbon,  into  wrought  iron,  which  has  the 
carbon  eliminated,  and  is  malleable  and  tough.  This  process  is  called 
puddling,  and  consists  in  exposing  the  molten  metal  to  an  oxidizing  cur- 
rent of  flame  and  air.  The  metal  boils  as  the  carbon  is  burned  out,  and 
as  it  becomes  more  plastic  and  stiff  it  is  collected  into  what  are  called 
blooms,  and  these  are  hammered  to  get  rid  of  the  slag,  and  are  re- 


374 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


duced  to  marketable  shape  as  wrought  iron  by  the  process  described  in 
his  previous  patent.  Mr.  Cort  expended  a  fortune  in  developing  the 
iron  trade,  and  was  one  of  the  greatest  pioneers  in  this  art. 

The  first  notable  development  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  was  the  in- 
troduction of  the  hot  air  blast  in  forges  and  furnaces  where  bellows  or 
blowing  apparatus  was  required.  This  was  the  invention  of  J.  Beaumont 
Neilson,  of  Glasgow,  and  was  covered  by  him  in  British  patent  No.  5,701 
of  1828.  This  consisted  in  heating  the  air  blast  before  admitting  it  to  the 
furnace,  and  it  so  increased  the  reduction  of  refractory  ores  in  the  blast 
furnace  as  to  permit  three  or  four  times  the  quantity  of  iron  to  be  pro- 
duced with  an  expenditure  of  little  more  than  one-third  of  the  fuel. 

An  illustration  of  a  modern  blast  furnace  plant  is  given  in  Fig.  250.    A 


FIG.    25O. — MODERN    HOT   BLAST   FURNACE. 

is  the  furnace,  in  which  the  iron  ore  and  fuel  are  arranged  in  alternate 
layers.  The  hot  air  blast  comes  in  through  pipes  t  at  the  bottom,  called 
tuyeres.  As  gas  escapes  through  the  opening  b  at  the  top,  it  is  first 
cleared  of  dust  in  the  settler  and  washer  B,  and  then  passes  through  the 
pipe  C  to  the  regenerators  D  D  D,  where  it  is  made  to  heat  the  incoming 


IN    THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY.  375 

air.  The  gas  mixed  with  some  air  burns  in  the  regenerators,  and,  after 
heating  a  mass  of  brick  within  the  regenerators  red  hot,  escapes  by  the 
underground  passageway  to  the  chimney  on  the  right.  When  the  bricks 
are  sufficiently  hot  in  one  of  the  regenerators,  gas  is  turned  off  therefrom, 
and  into  another  regenerator,  and  fresh  air  from  pipe  H  is  passed  through 
the  bricks  of  the  heated  regenerator,  and  being  heated  passes  out  pipe  F 
at  the  top  and  thence  to  the  pipe  G  and  tuyeres  t,  to  promote  the  chemical 
reactions  in  the  blast  furnace. 

In  the  earlier  blast  furnaces  a  vast  amount  of  heat  was  allowed  to 
escape  and  was  wasted.  The  utilization  of  this  heat  engaged  the  attention 
of  Aubertot  in  France,  1810-14;  Teague  in  England  (British  patent  No. 
6,21 1,  of  1832)  ;  Budd  (British  patent  No.  10,475,  °f  J845),  and  others. 
To  enable  the  escaping  hot  gases  to  be  employed  for  heating  the  hot  blast 
regenerators  a  charging  device  is  now  used,  as  seen  at  a  in  Fig.  250,  in 
which  the  admission  of  ore  and  fuel  is  regulated  by  a  large  conical  valve, 
and  the  gases  are  compelled  to  pass  out  at  b  and  be  utilized. 

Among  the  world's  largest  blast  furnaces  may  be  mentioned  the 
Austrian  Alpine  Montan  Gesellschaft,  which  concern  owns  thirty-two 
furnaces.  This  is  said  to  be  the  largest  number  owned  by  any  one  concern 
in  the  world,  but  most  of  them  are  of  small  size  and  run  on  charcoal  iron. 
The  furnaces  of  the  United  States  are,  however,  of  the  largest  yield,  and 
the  leading  ones  of  these  are  : 

Annual  capacity 
No.  Furnaces.         in  tons. 

Carnegie  Steel  Co 17  2,200,000 

Federal  Steel  Co 19  1,900,000 

Tennessee  Coal  and  Iron  Co 20  1,307,000 

National  Steel  Co 12  1,205,000 

The  present  annual  output  of  pig  iron  in  the  United  States  is  about  ten 
million  tons,  of  which  these  four  companies  make  about  one-half. 

When  the  iron  runs  from  the  bottom  of  the  blast  furnace  it  is  allowed 
to  flow  into  trough-like  moulds  in  the  sand  of  the  floor,  and  forms  pig  iron. 
Pig  iron  can  be  remelted  and  cast  into  various  articles  in  moulds,  but  it 
cannot  be  wrought  with  the  hammer,  nor  rolled  into  rails  or  plates,  nor 
welded  on  the  anvil,  because  it  is  'still  a  compound  of  iron  and  carbon  with 
other  impurities,  and  is  crystalline  in  character.  To  bring  it  into  wrought 
iron,  which  is  malleable  and  ductile,  it  is  puddled  and  refined,  which  in- 
volves chiefly  the  burning  out  of  the  carbon  and  silicon.  The  pig  iron  is 
remelted  (see  Fig.  251)  in  the  tray-shaped  hearth  b  from  the  heat  of  the 


376 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


fire  in  the  reverberatory  furnace  a,  the  reverberatory  furnace  being  one  in 
which  the  materials  treated  are  exposed  to  the  heat  of  the  flame,  but  not 
to  contact  with  the  fuel.  The  hot  flame  mixed  with  air  beating  down 
upon  the  melted  iron  on  hearth  b  for  two  hours  or  so,  burns  out  the  silicon 

and  carbon,  the  process  be- 
ing facilitated  by  stirring 
and  working  the  mass  with 
tools.  During  the  operation 
the  oxygen  of  the  air  com- 
bines with  the  carbon  and 
forms  carbonic  acid  gas. 
which,  in  escaping  from 
the  metal,  appears  to  make 
it  boil.  When  the  iron  parts 
with  its  carbon  it  loses  its 
fluidity  and  becomes  plastic 
and  coherent,  and  is  formed 
into  balls  called  blooms. 
These  blooms  consist  of 
particles  of  nearly  pure 
iron  cohering,  but  retaining 
still  a  quantity  of  slag  or 
vitreous  material,  and  other 
impurities,  which  slag,  etc., 
is  worked  out  while  still: 
hot  by  a  squeezing,  knead- 
ing, and  hammering  proc- 

FIG.     25I.-PUDDLING    FURNACE.  ^    t()     f()nn     wrQUght     jron 

that  may  be  worked  into  any  shape  between  rolls  or  under  the  hammer. 
Bessemer  Steel. — Steel  is  a  compound  of  iron  and  carbon,  standing 
between  wrought  iron  and  cast  iron.  Wrought  iron  has,  when  pure,  prac- 
tically no  carbon  in  it,  while  cast  iron  has  a  considerable  proportion  in 
excess  of  steel.  Steel  making  consists  mainly  in  so  treating  cast  iron  as  to 
get  rid  of  a  part  of  the  carbon  and  other  impurities.  Of  all  methods  of 
steel  making,  and  in  fact  of  all  the  steps  of  progress  in  the  art  of  metal 
working,  none  has  been  so  important  and  so  far  reaching  in  effect  as  the 
Bessemer  process:  It  was  invented  by  Henry  Bessemer,  of  England,  in 
1855.  About  fifty  British  patents  were  taken  by  Mr.  Bessemer  relating 
to  various  improvements  in  the  iron  industry,  but  those  representing  the 
pioneer  steps  of  the  so-called  Bessemer  process  are  No.  2,321,  of  1855; 


all 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH   CENTURY. 


377 


No.  2,768,  of  1855,  and  No.  356,  of  1856.  The  process  is  illustrated  in 
Figs.  252,  253  and  254.  The  converter  in  which  the  process  is  carried 
out  is  a  great  bottle-shaped  vessel  15  feet  high  and  9  feet  wide,  consisting 
of  an  iron  shell  with  a  heavy  lining  of  refractory  material,  capable  of  hold- 
ing eight  or  more  tons  of  melted  iron,  and  with  an  open  neck  at  the  top 
turned  to  one  side.  It  is  mounted  on  trunnions,  and  is  provided  with  gear 
wheels  by  which  it  may  be  turned  on  its  trunnions,  so  that  it  may  be  main- 
tained erect,  as  in  Fig.  252,  or  be  turned  down  to  pour  out  the  contents 
into  the  casting  ladle,  as  in  Figs.  253  and  254.  At  the  bottom  of  the  con- 
verter there  is  an  air  chamber  supplied  by 
a  pipe  leading  from  one  of  the  trunnions, 
which  is  hollow,  and  a  number  of  up- 
wardly discharging  air  openings  or  noz- 
zles send  streams  of  air  into  the  molten 
mass  of  red  hot  cast  iron.  The  red  hot 
cast  iron  contains  more  or  less  carbon 
and  silicon,  and  the  air  uniting  with  the 
carbon  and  silicon  burns  it  out,  and  in 
doing  so  furnishes  the  heat  for  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  operation.  When  the 
pressure  of  air  is  turned  into  the  mass  of 
molten  iron  a  tongue  of  flame  increasing 
in  brilliancy  to  an  intense  white,  comes 
roaring  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  converter, 
and  a  violent  ebullition  takes  place  with- 
in, and  throws  sparks  and  spatters  of 
metal  high  in  the  air  around,  producing 
the  impression  and  scenic  effect  of  a 
volcano  in  eruption.  In  fifteen  minutes 

the  volume  and  brilliancy  of  the  flame  diminish,  and  this  indicates  the 
critical  moment  of  conversion  into  tough  steel,  which  must  be  adjusted  to 
the  greatest  nicety.  When  the  carbon  is  sufficiently  burned  out  the  blast 
is  stopped  and  the  converter  turned  down  to  receive  a  quantity  of  ferro- 
manganese  or  spiegeleisen  (a  compound  of  iron  containing  manganese), 
which  unites  with  and  removes  the  sulphur  and  oxide  of  iron,  and  then 
the  lurid  monster,  with  its  breath  of  fire  abated,  and  its  energy  exhausted, 
bows  its  head  and  vomits  forth  its  charge  of  boiling  steel,  to  be  wrought 
or  cast  into  ten  thousand  useful  articles. 

Like  most  all  valuable  inventions,  Mr.  Bessemer's  claim  to  priority  for 
the  invention  was  contested.     An  American  inventor,  William  Kelly,  in 


FIG.     252. — BESSEMER    CONVERTER 
DURING    THE    "BLOW." 


378 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


an  interference  with  Mr.  Bessemer's  United  States  patent,  successfully 
established  a  claim  to  the  broad  idea  of  forcing  air  into  the  red  hot  cast 


FIG.    253. — POURING   THE    MOLTEN    METAL. 


FIG.    254. — SIDE    VIEW,    SHOWING    TURNING    GEARS. 

iron,  and  United  States  patent  No.  17,628,  June  23,  1857,  was  granted  to 
Mr.  Kelly.    The  honor  of  inventing  and  introducing  a  successful  process 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  379 

and  apparatus  for  making  steel  by  this  method,  however,  fairly  belongs 
to  Mr.  Bessemer,  to  whose  work  was  to  be  added  the  valuable  contribution 
of  Robert  F.  Mushet  (British  patent  No.  2,219,  of  1856)  of  adding 
spiegeleisen,  a  triple  compound  of  iron,  carbon  and  manganese,  to  the 
charge  in  the  converter.  This  step  served  to  regulate  the  supply  of  carbon 
and  eliminate  the  oxygen,  and  completed  the  process  of  making  steel.  The 
Holly  converter,  covered  by  United  States  patents  No.  86,303,  and  No. 
86,304,  January  26,  1869,  represented  one  of  the  most  important  American 
developments  of  the  Bessemer  converter. 

The  importance  of  Bessemer  steel  in  its  influence  upon  modern  civiliza- 
tion is  everywhere  admitted.  It  has  so  cheapened  steel  that  it  now  com- 
petes with  iron  in  price.  Practically  all  railroad  rails,  iron  girders  and 
beams  for  buildings,  nails,  etc.,  are  made  from  it  at  a  cost  of  between  one 
and  two  cents  per  pound. 

In  recognition  of  the  great  benefits  conferred  upon  humanity  by  this 
process,  Queen  Victoria  conferred  the  degree  of  knighthood  upon  the 
inventor,  and  his  fortune  resulting  from  his  invention  is  estimated  to  have 
grown  for  some  time  at  the  rate  of  $500,000  a  year.  In  a  historical  sketch 
of  the  development  of  his  process,  delivered  by  Sir  Henry  Bessemer  in 
December,  1896,  before  the  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers 
at  New  York,  Mr.  Bessemer  was  reported  as  saying  that  the  annual  pro- 
duction of  Bessemer  steel  in  Europe  and  America  amounted  to  10,000,000 
tons.  The  production  of  Bessemer  steel  in  the  United  States  for  1897  was 
for  ingots  and  castings  5,475,315  tons,  and  for.  railroad  rails  1,644,520 
tons.  The  extent  to  which  steel  has  displaced  iron  is  shown  by  the  fact 
that  in  the  same  year  iron  rails  to  the  extent  of  2,872  tons  only  were  made, 
as  compared  with  more  than  a  million  and  a  half  tons  of  Bessemer  steel. 

In  the  popular  vote  taken  by  the  Scientific  American,  July  25,  1896, 
as  to  what  invention  introduced  in  the  past  fifty  years  had  conferred  the 
greatest  benefit  upon  mankind,  Bessemer  steel  was  given  the  place  of 
honor. 

A  recent  improvement  in  the  handling  of  iron  from  the  blast  furnace 
is  shown  in  Fig.  255.  Heretofore,  the  iron  was  run  in  open  sand  moulds 
on  the  floor  and  allowed  to  cool  in  bars  called  "pigs,"  which  were  united  in 
a  series  to  a  main  body  of  the  flow,  called  a  "sow."  To  break  the  "pigs" 
from  the  "sow,"  and  handle  the  iron  in  transportation,  was  a  very  laborious 
and  expensive  work.  The  illustration  shows  two  series  of  parallel  trough 
moulds,  each  forming  an  endless  belt,  running  on  wheels.  The  molten 
cast  iron  is  poured  direct  into  these  moulds,  and  as  they  travel  along  they 
pass  beneath  a  body  of  water,  which  cools  and  solidifies  the  iron  into  pigs, 


3«0  THE  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 

and  then  carries  them  up  an  incline  and  dumps  them  directly  into  the 
cars. 

Open  Hearth  Steel  is  not  so  cheap  as  Bessemer  steel,  but  it  is  of  a  finer 
and  more  uniform  quality.  Bessemer  steel  is  made  in  a  few  minutes  by 
the  most  energetic,  rapid  and  critical  of  processes,  while  the  open  hearth 


FIG.    255. — CASTING    AND   LOADING    PIG    IRON. 

steel  requires  several  hours,  and  its  development  being  thus  prolonged  it 
may  be  watched  and  regulated  to  a  greater  nicety  of  result.  For  railroad 
rails  and  architectural  construction  Bessemer  steel  still  finds  a  great 
field  of  usefulness,  but  for  the  finest  quality  of  steel,  such  as  is  employed 
in  making  steam  boilers,  tools,  armor  plate  for  war  vessels,  etc.,  steel  made 
by  the  open  hearth  process  is  preferred.  It  consists  in  the  decarburization 
of  cast  iron  by  fusion  with  wrought  iron,  iron  sponge,  steel  scrap,  or  iron 
oxide,  in  the  hearth  of  a  reverberatory  furnace  heated  with  gases,  the 
flame  of  which  assists  the  reaction,  and  the  subsequent  recarburization  or 
deoxidation  of  the  bath  by  the  addition,  at  the  close  of  the  process,  of 
spiegeleisen  or  ferro-manganese.  The  period  of  fusion  lasts  from  four  to 
eight  hours.  The  advantages  over  the  Bessemer  process  are,  a  less  ex- 
pensive plant  and  the  greater  duration  of  the  operation,  permitting,  by 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


381 


means  of  sampling,  more  complete  control  of  the  quality  of  the  product 
and  greater  uniformity  of  result. 

The  British  patents  of  Siemens,  No.  2,861,  of  1856;  No.  167,  of  1861, 
and  No.  972,  of  1863,  for  regenerative  furnaces,  and  the  British  patents 
of  Emile  and  Pierre  Martin,  No.  2,031,  of  1864;  No.  2,137^  of  1865,  and 
No.  859,  of  1866,  represent  the  so-called  Siemens-Martin  process,  which 
is  the  best  known  and  generally  used  open  hearth  process. 

The  Siemens  Regenerative  Furnace,  in  which  this  process  is  carried 
out,  is  seen  in  Fig.  256.  Four  chambers,  C,  E,  E',  C,  are  filled  with  fire 


FIG.   256. — SIEMENS  REGENERATIVE  FURNACE. 

brick  loosely  stacked  with  spaces  between,  in  checker-work  style.  Gas  is 
forced  in  the  bottom  of  chamber  C,  and  air  in  bottom  of  chamber  E,  and 
i.hey  pass  up  separate  flues,  G,  on  the  left,  and  being  ignited  in  chamber 
D  above,  impinge  in  a  flame  on  the  metal  in  hearth  H,  the  hot  gases 
passing  out  flues  F  on  the  right,  and  percolating  through  and  highly  heat- 
ing the  checker-work  bricks  in  chambers  E'  and  C'.  As  soon  as  these  are 
hot,  gas  and  air  are  shut  off  by  valves  from  chambers  C  and  E,  and  gas 
and  air  admitted  to  the  bottoms  of  the  now  hot  chambers  C  and  E'.  The 
gas  and  air  now  passing  up  through  these  chambers  C,  E',  become 
highly  heated,  and  when  burned  above  the  melted  iron  on  hearth  H 
produce  an  intense  heat.  The  waste  gases  now  pass  down  flues  G,  and 


382 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


impart  their  heat  to  the  checker  work  bricks  in  chambers  C  and  E.    When 
the  bricks  in  E'  C  become  cooled  by  the  passage  of  gas  and  air,  the 


valves  are  again  adjusted  to  reverse  the  currents  of  gas  and  air,  sending 
them  now  through  chambers   C  and   E  again.     In  this  way  the  heat 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  383 

escaping  to  the  smoke  stack  is  stored  up  in  the  bricks  and  utilized  to  heat 
the  incoming  fuel  gases  before  burning  them,  thus  greatly  increasing 
the  effective  energy  of  the  furnace,  saving  fuel,  and  keeping  the  smoke 
stack  relatively  cool. 

Armor  Plate. — In  these  late  days  of  struggle  for  supremacy  between 
the  power  of  the  projectile  and  the  resistance  of  the  battleship,  the  pro- 
duction of  armor  plate  has  become  an  interesting  and  important  industry. 

Three  methods  are  employed.  One  is  to  roll  the  massive  ingots  di- 
rectly into  plates  between  tremendous  rolls,  a  single  pair  of  which,  such 
as  used  in  the  Krupp  works,  are  said  to  weigh  in  the  rough  as  much  as 
100,000  pounds.  Usually  there  are  three  great  rollers  arranged  one  above 
the  other,  and  automatic  tables  are  provided  for  raising  and  lowering 
the  plates  in  their  passage  from  one  set  of  rolls  to  the  other.  The  man  in 
charge  uses  a  whistle  in  giving  the  signals  which  direct  these  movements, 
and  without  the  help  of  tongs  and  levers  the  glowing  blocks  move  easily 
back  and  forth  between  the  rollers.  The  men  standing  on  both  sides  of 
the  rollers  have  only  to  wipe  off  the  plates  with  brooms  and  occasionally 
turn  the  plates. 

The  second  method  utilizes  great  steam  hammers  weighing  125  tons, 
and  striking  Titanic  blows  upon  the  yielding  metal.  The  most  modern 
method,  however,,  is  by  the  hydraulic  press  forge,  now  used  in  the  shops 
of  the  Bethlehem  steel  works  in  the  production  of  Harveyized  armor 
plate.  In  Fig.  257  is  seen  the  great  14,000  ton  hydraulic  press-forge 
squeezing  into  shape  a  port  armor  plate  for  the  battleship  "Alabama." 
After  leaving  the  forge,  the  plate  is  trimmed  to  shape  by  the  savage  bite 
of  a  rotary  saw  and  planer,  seen  in  Figs.  258  and  259,  whose  insatiable 
appetites  tear  off  the  steel  like  famished  fiends.  The  plate  is  then  taken 
to  be  Harveyized  by  cementation,  hardening,  and  tempering,  as  seen  in 
Figs.  260,  261,  and  262.  The  125-ton  mass  of  metal  representing  the 
plate  in  the  rough,  and  weighing  more  than  a  locomotive,  is  thus  handled 
and  brought  to  shape  with  an  ease  and  dispatch  that  inspires  the  observer 
with  mixed  emotions  of  admiration  and  awe. 

Making  Horse  Shoes. — Anthony's  patent,  April  8,  1831 ;  Tolles',  of 
October  24,  1834,  and  H.  Burden's,  of  November  23,  1835,  were  pioneers 
in  horse-shoe  machines.  Mr.  Burden  took  many  subsequent  patents,  and 
to  him  more  than  any  other  inventor  belongs  the  credit  of  introducing 
machine-made  horse  shoes,  which  greatly  cheapened  the  cost  of  this 
homely,  but  useful  article.  Nearly  400  United  States  patents  have  been 
granted  for  horse-shoe  machines. 

Making  Screws,   Bolts,    Nuts,    Etc. — Screw-making    according    to 


384 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


FIG.   258. — ROTARY  SAW,  CUTTING  HEAVY    ARMOR    PLATE. 


FIG.    259-— ROTARY    PLANER,    TRIMMING  HEAVY  ARMOR  PLATE. 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


385 


FIG.    26l. — HARDENING    THE    PLATE    BY    JETS  OF  WATER. 

modern  methods  began  between  1800-1810  with  the  operations  of  Mauds- 
ley.  Sloan,  in  1851,  and  Harvey,  in  1864,  made  many  improvements  in 
machines,  operating  upon  screw  blanks.  The  gimlet-pointed  screw,  which 


386  THE  PROGRESS   OF  INDENTION 

allows  the  screw  to  be  turned  into  wood  without  having  a  hole  bored  for 
it,  was  an  important  advance  in  the  art.  It  was  the  invention  of  Thomas 
J.  Sloan,  patented  August  20,  1846,  No.  4,704,  and  was  twice  re-issued 
and  extended.  In  later  years  the  rolling  of  screws,  instead  of  cutting  the 
threads  by  a  chasing  tool,  has  attained  considerable  importance,  and  pro- 


ne.   262. — OIL   TEMPERING. 

vides  a  simpler  and  cheaper  method  of  manufacture.  Knowles'  United 
States  patent  of  April  i,  1831,  re-issued  March  i,  1833,  described  such  a 
process,  while  Rogers,  in  patents  No.  370,354,  September  20,  1887;  No. 
408,529,  August  6,  1889;  No.  430,237,  June  17,  1890,  and  Xo.  434,809, 
August  19,  1890,  added  such  improvement  in  the  process  as  to  make  it 
practical. 

In  the  great  art  cf  metal  working  the  names  of  Bramah,  Whitworth, 
Clements  and  Sellers  appear  conspicuously  in  the  early  part  of  the  century 
as  inventors  of  planing,  boring  and  turning  machinery  for  metals.  Our 
present  splendid  machine  shops,  gun  shops,  locomotive  works,  type- 
writer and  bicycle  factories,  are  examples  of  the  wonderful  extensions  of 
this  art.  In  later  years  the  field  has  been  filled  so  full  of  improvements 
and  special  machines  fcr  special  work,  that  only  a  brief  citation  of  a  few 
representative  types  is  possible,  and  even  then  selection  becomes  a  very 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  387 

difficult  task.  Many  special  tools,  particularly  those  designed  for  bicycle 
work,  have  been  devised,  as  exhibited  by  patent  to  Hillman,  August  n, 
1891,  No.  457,718.  In  turning  car  wheels,  an  improvement  consists  in 
bringing  the  wheel  to  be  dressed  into  close  proximity  to  the  edge  of  a 
rapidly  revolving  smooth  metal  disk,  whereby  the  surface  of  the  wheel 
is  melted  away  without  there  being  any  actual  contact  between  the  wheel 
surface  and  the  disk.  This  is  shown  in  patent  to  Miltimore,  August  24, 
1886,  No.  347,951.  In  metal  tube  manufacture  three  processes  are  worthy 
of  mention :  ( I )  Passing  a  heated  solid  rod  endwise  between  the  working 
faces  of  two  rapidly  rotating  tapered  rolls,  set  with  their  axes  at  an  angle 
to  each  other,  as  shown  in  Mannesmann's  patent,  April  26,  1887,  No.  361,- 
954  and  361,955.  (2)  Forcing  a  tube  into  a  rapidly  rotating  die,  whereby 
the  friction  softens  the  tube,  and  the  pressure  and  rotation  of  the  die  spin 
it  into  a  tube  of  reduced  diameter,  shown  in  patent  to  Bevington,  January 
13,  1891,  No.  444,721.  (3)  Placing  a  hot  ingot  in  a  die  and  forcing  a 
mandrel  through  the  ingot,  thereby  causing  it  to  assume  the  shape  of  the 
interior  of  the  die,  and  greatly  condensing  the  metal,  shown  in  patents  to 
Robertson,  November  26,  1889,  No.  416,014,  and  Ehrhardt,  April  n, 
1893,  No.  495,245- 

In  welding,  the  employment  of  electricity  constitutes  the  most  impor- 
tant departure.  This  was  introduced  by  Elihu  Thomson,  and  is  covered  in 
his  patents  Nos.  347,140  to  347,142,  August  10,  1886,  and  No.  501,546, 
July  18,  1893.  In  annealing  and  tempering,  electricity  has  also  been  em- 
ployed as  a  means  of  heating  (see  patent  to  Shaw,  No.  211,938,  February 
4,  1879).  It  supplies  an  even  heat  and  uniform  temperature,  and  is  much 
used  in  producing  clock  and  watch  springs.  The  making  of  iron  castings 
malleable  by  a  prolonged  baking  in  a  furnace  in  a  bed  of  metallic  oxide 
was  an  important,  but  early,  step.  It  was  the  invention  of  Samuel  Lucas, 
and  is  disclosed  in  his  British  patent  No.  2,767,  of  1804. 

The  Harvey  process  of  making  armor  plate  is  an  important  recent 
development  in  cementation  and  case  hardening,  and  is  covered  by  his 
United  States  patents  No.  376,194,  January  10,  1888,  and  No.  460,262, 
September  29,  1891.  It  consists,  see  Fig.  260,  in  embedding  the  face  of  the 
plate  in  carbon,  protecting  the  back  and  sides  with  sand,  heating  to  about 
the  melting  point  of  cast  iron,  and  subsequently  hardening  the  face.  The 
Krupp  armor  plate,  now  rated  as  the  best,  is  made  under  the  patent  to 
Schmitz  and  Ehrenzberger,  No.  534,178,  February  12,  1895. 

In  coating  with  metals,  the  so-called  "galvanizing"  of  iron  is  an  im- 
portant art.  This  was  introduced  by  Craufurd  (British  patent  No.  7,355, 
of  April  29,  1837),  and  consisted  in  plunging  the  iron  into  a  bath  of 


388  THE  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 

melted  zinc  covered  with  sal  ammoniac.  In  more  recent  years  the  tin- 
ning of  iron  has  become  an  important  industry,  and  machines  have  been 
made  for  automatically  coating  the  plates  and  dispensing  with  hand  labor, 
examples  of  which  are  found  in  patents  No.  220,768,  October  21,  1879, 
Morewood ;  No.  329,240,  October  27,  1885,  Taylor,  et  al.,  and  No.  426,962, 
April  29,  1890,  Rogers  and  Player. 

In  metal  founding  the  employment  of  chill  moulds  is  an  important 
step.  Where  any  portion  of  a  casting  is  subjected  to  unusual  wear,  the 
mould  is  formed,  opposite  that  part  of  the  casting,  out  of  metal,  instead 
of  sand,  and  this  metal  surface,  by  rapidly  extracting  the  heat  at  that 
point  by  virtue  of  its  own  conductivity,  hardens  the  metal  of  the  casting 
at  such  point.  The  casting  of  car  wheels  by  chill  moulds,  by  which  the 
tread  portion  of  the  wheel  was  hardened  and  increased  in  wearing  quali- 
ties, is  a  good  illustration.  Important  types  are  found  in  patents  to  Wil- 
mington, No.  85,046,  December  15,  1868;  Barr,  No.  207,794,  September 
10,  1878,  and  Whitney,  re-issue  patent,  No.  10,804,  February  i,  1887. 

In  wire-working  great  advances  have  been  made  in  machines  for 
making  barbed  wire  fences.  The  French  patent  to  Grassin  &  Baledans, 
in  1 86 1,  is  the  first  disclosure  of  a  barbed  wire  fence.  This  art  began 
practically,  however,  with  the  United  States  patent  to  Glidden  and 
Vaughan  for  a  barbed  wire  machine,  No.  157,508,  December  8,  1874,  re- 
issued March  20,  1877,  No.  7,566,  and  has  assumed  great  proportions. 
A  machine  for  making  wire  net  is  shown  in  patent  to  Scarles,  No.  380,664, 
April  3,  1888,  and  wire  picket  fence  machines  are  shown  in  patents  to 
Fultz,  No.  298,368,  May  13,  1884,  and  Kitselman,  No.  356,322,  January 
1 8,  1887.  Machines  for  making  wire  nails  were  invented  at  an  early 
period,  but  the  product  found  but  little  favor  until  about  1880,  when 
they  began  to  be  extensively  used,  and  have  almost  entirely  supplanted  cut 
nails  for  certain  classes  of  work,  since  their  round  cross  section  and 
lack  of  taper  give  great  holding  power  and  avoid  cutti-ng  the  grain  of 
the  wood.  In  1897  the  wire  nails  produced  in  the  United  States  amounted 
to  8,997,245  kegs  of  100  pounds  each,  which  nearly  doubled  the  output 
of  1896.  The  output  of  cut  nails  for  the  same  year  was  2,106,799  kegs. 

The  bending  of  wire  to  form  chains  without  welding  the  links  has 
long  been  done  for  watch  chains,  etc.,  but  in  late  years  the  method  has 
extended  to  many  varieties  of  heavy  chains.  The  patents  to  Breul,  No. 
359,054,  March  8,  1887,  and  No.  467,331,  January  19,  1892,  are  good 
examples. 

An  interesting  class  of  machines,  but  one  impossible  of  illustration  on 
account  of  their  complication,  are  machines  for  making  pins.  In  earlier 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  389 

times  pins  had  their  heads  applied  in  a  separate  operation.  Making 
pins  from  wire  and  forming  the  heads  out  of  the  cut  sections  began  in 
the  Nineteenth  Century  with  Hunt's  British  patent  No.  4,129,  of  1817. 
This  art  received  its  greatest  impetus,  however,  under  Wright's  British 
patent  No.  4,955,  of  1824.  A  paper  of  pins  containing  a  pin  for  every 
day  in  the  year,  and  costing  but  a  few  cents,  gives  no  idea  to  the  purchaser 
of  the  time,  thought  and  capital  expended  in  machines  for  making  them, 
and  yet  were  it  not  for  such  machines,  rapidly  cutting  coils  of  wire  into 
lengths,  pointing  and  heading  the  pins,  and  sticking  them  into  papers,  the 
world  would  be  deprived  of  one  of  its  most  ubiquitous  and  useful  articles. 
Many  tons  of  pins  are  made  in  the  United  States  weekly,  and  it  is  said 
that  20,000,000  pins  a  day  are  required  to  meet  the  demand. 

In  the  metal  working  art  the  making  of  fire-arms  and  projectiles  has 
grown  to  wonderful  proportions.  Cutlery  and  builders'  hardware  is  an 
enormous  branch ;  wire-drawing,  sheet  metal-making,  forging,  and  the 
making  of  tools,  springs,  tin  cans,  needles,  hooks  and  eyes,  nails  and 
tacks,  and  a  thousand  minor  articles,  have  grown  to  such  proportions 
that  only  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  art  is  possible. 

In  the  making  of  shot,  the  old  method  was  to  pour  the  melted  metal 
through  a  sieve,  and  allow  it  to  drop  from  a  tower  180  feet  or  more  in 
height.  David  Smith's  patent,  No.  6,460,  May  22,  1849,  provided  an 
ascending  current  of  air  through  which  the  metal  dropped,  and  which,  by 
cooling  the  shot  by  retarding  its  fall  and  bringing  a  greater  number  of 
air  particles  in  contact  with  them,  avoided  the  necessity  of  such  high 
towers.  In  1868,  Glasgow  and  Wood  patented  a  process  of  dropping 
the  shot  through  a  column  of  'glycerine  or  oil.  Still  another  method  is 
to  allow  the  melted  metal  to  fall  on  a  revolving  disk,  which  divides  it  into 
drops  by  centrifugal  action. 

Alloys. — Over  300  United  States  patents  have  been  granted  for  various 
alloys  of  metals.  The  so-called  babbit  metal  was  patented  in  the  United 
States  by  Isaac  Babbit,  July  17,  1839,  and  m  England,  May  15,  1843, 
No.  9,724.  This  consists  of  an  antifriction  compound  of  tin,  10  parts, 
copper,  i  part,  and  antimony,  i  part,  and  is  specially  adapted  for  the 
lubricated  bearings  of  machinery.  Phosphor  bronze,  introduced  in  1871, 
combines  80  to  92  parts  copper,  7  of  tin,  and  i  of  phosphorus  (see 
United  States  patents  to  Lavroff,  No.  118,372,  August  22,  1871,  and 
Levi  and  Kunzel,  No.  115,220,  May  23,  1871).  The  addition  of  phos- 
phorus promotes  the  fluidity  of  the  metal  and  makes  very  clean,  fine  and 
strong  castings.  In  alloys  of  iron,  chromium  steel  is  covered  by  patents 
to  Baur,  No.  49,495,  August  22,  1865 ;  No.  99,624,  February  8,  1870,  and 


390  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

No.  123,443,  February  6,  1872 ;  manganese  steel,  by  Hadfield's  patent,  No. 
303,150,  August  5,  1884;  aluminum  steel,  by  Wittenstrom's  patent,  No. 
333,373,  December  29,  1885,  and  phosphorus  steel,  by  Kunkel's  patent, 
No.  182,371,  September  19,  1876.  The  most  recent  and  perhaps  most 
important,  however,  is  nickel  steel,  used  in  making  armor  for  battleships. 
This  is  covered  by  Schneider's  patents,  Nos.  415,655,  and  415,657,  No- 
vember 19,  1889. 

In  1878  England  led  the  world  in  the  iron  industry  with  a  production 
of  6,381,051  tons  of  pig  iron,  as  compared  with  2,30.1,215  tons  by  the 
United  States.  In  1897  the  United  States  leads  the  world  in  the  following 
ratios : 

Tons  Pig  Iron.  Tons  Steel. 

United  States   9,652,680  7,156,957 

Great   Britain    8,789,455  4,585,961 

Germany 6,879,541  4,796,226 

France    2,472,143  1,312,000 

The  United  States  made  in  that  year  29.30  per  cent,  of  the  world's 
production  of  pig  iron,  and  34.58  per  cent,  of  its  steel.  The  total  output 
of  the  whole  world  in  that  year  was  32,937,490  tons  pig  iron,  and  20,- 
696,787  tons  of  steel. 

Metallurgy  of  Rarer  Metals. — Although  less  in  evidence  than  iron, 
this  has  engaged  the  attention  of  the  scientist  from  the  earliest  years  of 
the  century.  The  full  list  of  metals  discovered  since  1800  may  be  found 
under  "Chemistry."  The  more  important  only  are  here  given.  Palladium 
and  rhodium  were  reduced  by  Wollaston  in  1804.  Potassium  and  sodium 
were  first  separated  in  metallic  form  by  Sir  Humphrey  Davy  in  1807, 
through  the  agency  of  the  voltaic  arc ;  barium,  strontium,  calcium  and 
boron  by  the  same  scientist  in  1808:  iodine  by  Courtois  in  1811  ;  selenium 
by  Berzelius  in  1817;  cadmium  by  Stromeyer  in  1817;  silicon  by  Ber- 
zelius  in  1823,  and  bromium  by  Balard  in  1826.  Magnesium  was  first 
prepared  by  Bussey  in  1829.  Aluminum  was  first  separated  in  1828  by 
Wohler,  by  decomposing  the  chloride  by  means  of  potassium.  Oersted, 
in  1827,  preceded  him  with  important  preliminary  steps,  and  Deville,  in 
1854,  followed  in  the  first  commercial  applications.  In  late  years  the 
metallurgy  of  aluminum  has  made  great  advances.  The  Cowles  process 
heats  to  incandescence  by  the  electric  current  a  mixture  of  alumina,  car- 
bon and  copper,  the  reduced  aluminum  alloying  with  the  copper.  This 
process  is  covered  by  United  States  patents  to  Cowles  and  Cowles,  No. 
3T9:795-  J"ne  9-  1885,  and  Nos.  324,658  and  324,659,  August  18,  1885.  It 
has,  however,  for  the  most  parts  been  superseded  by  the  process  patented 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


391 


by  Hall,  April  2,  1889,  No.  400,766,  in  which  alumina  dissolved  in  fused 
cryolite  is  electrically  decomposed. 

In  the  metallurgy  of  the  precious  metals  probably  the  most  important 
step  has  been  the  cyanide  process  of  obtaining  gold  and  silver.  In  1806 
it  was  known  that  gold  was  soluble  in  a  solution  of  cyanide  of  potassium. 
In  1844  L.  Eisner  published  investigations  along  this  line,  and  demon- 
strated that  the  solution  took  place  only  in  the  presence  of  oxygen. 
Me  Arthur  and  Forrest  perfected  the  process  for  commercial  application. 
and  it  is  now  extensively  used  in  the  Transvaal  and  elsewhere.  It  is 
covered  by  their  British  patent,  No.  14,174,  of  1887,  and  United  States 
patents  No.  403,202,  May  14,  1889,  and  No.  418,137,  December  24,  1889, 
which  describe  the 
application  of  dilute 
solutions  of  cyanide 
of  potassium,  not 
exceeding  8  parts 
cyanogen  to  i  ,000 
parts  of  water ;  the 
use  of  zinc  in  a  fine 
state  of  division  to 
precipitate  the  gold 
out  of  solution,  and 
the  preparatory 
treatment  of  the  par- 
tially oxidized  ores 
with  an  alkali  or 
salts  of  an  alkali.  By 
this  solution-process 
gold,  in  the  finest 
state  of  subdivision, 
which  could  not  be 
extracted  by  other 
processes  from  the 
earthy  matters,  may 
be  recovered  and 
saved  in  a  simple, 
practical  and  cheap 
way. 

In  the  working  of  ores  of  gold  and  silver  the  old  method  of  commi- 
nution of  the  rock  and  the  separation  of  the  gold  and  silver  by  amalgama- 


FIG.     263. — EDISON     MAGNETIC    CONCENTRATING     WORKS. 
THE    GIANT    CRUSHING    ROLLS. 


392 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


tion  with  mercury  has  given  birth  to  thousands  of  inventions  in  stamp 
mills,  amalgamators,  ore  washers,  concentrators  and  separators.  In  the 
treatment  of  iron  ores,  and  especially  those  of  low  grade,  the  magnetic 
concentrator  is  an  interesting  and  striking  departure.  This  method  goes 

back  to  the  first  half 
of  the  Nineteenth 

^^^^^^^^  Century,   an   example 

I    being    found    in    the 
\^  j±  4$..   A '    ^   '  patent   to   Cook,    No. 

i  \     .j  i  isufl  HteA  '      6'I2I>  Februar-v  2°- 

1849.  Edison's  pat- 
ent, No.  228,329,  June 
i,  1880,  is  however, 
the  basis  of  the  first 
practical  operations  in 
which  magnets,  oper- 
ating by  attraction 
upon  falling  particles 
of  iron  ore,  are  made 
to  separate  the  parti- 
cles rich  in  iron  from 
the  sand.  In  Fig.  263 
is  shown  "the  Edison 
magnetic  concentrat- 
ing apparatus.  The 
ore,  in  masses  of  all 
sizes  up  to  boulders 
of  five  or  six  tons 
weight,  is  dumped  be- 
tween the  giant  rolls, 
and  these  enormous 
masses  are  crunched 
and  comminuted  more 
easilv  than  a  dog 

FIG.    264-EDZSON    MAGNETIC    CONCENTRATOR.  crUncheSabone.  Thes'e 

gigantic  rolls  are  six  feet  in  diameter,  six  feet  long,  and  their  surfaces  are 
covered  with  crushing  knobs.  They  weigh  with  the  moving  machinery 
seventy  tons,  and  when  revolved  at  a  circumferential  speed  of  3.500  feet 
in  a  minute,  their  insatiable  and  irresistible  bite  soon  chews  the  rock  into 
fragments  that  pass  into  similar  crushing  rolls  set  closer  together  until 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 

reduced  to  the  desired  fineness.  The  sand  is  then  raised  to  the  top  of 
the  concentrating  devices,  shown  in  Fig.  264,  and  is  allowed  to  fall  in 
sheets  from  inclined  boards  in  front  of  a  series  of  magnets,  of  which  four 
sets  are  shown  in  the  figure.  These  magnets  deflect  the  fall  of  the 
particles  rich  in  iron  (which  are  attracted),  while  the  non-magnetic 
particles  of  sand  drop  straight  down.  A  thin  knife-edge  partition  board., 
arranged  below  the  falling  sheets  of  sand,  separates  the  deflected  mag- 
netic particles  from  the  straight-falling  sand.  These  magnetic  particles 
are  then  collected  and  pressed  into  little  bricks,  which  are  now  so  rich  in 
iron,  by  virtue  of  concentration,  as  to  make  the  final  reduction  of  the  iron 
in  the  blast  furnace  easy  and  profitable.  More  recent  developments  in 
this  art  are  shown  in  patents  to  Wetherill,  No.  555,792,  March  3,  1896, 
and  Payne,  No.  641,148,  January  9,  1900. 

In  the  production  of  copper  the  well-known  Bessemer  process  for 
refining  iron  is  now  largely  used,  as  shown  in  patent  to  Manhes,  No. 
456,516,  July  21,  1891,  in  which  blasts  of  air  are  forced  through  the 
melted  copper  to  remove  sulphur  and  other  impurities.  Electrolytic 
processes  of  refining  copper  are  also  largely  used,  as  described  in  Farmer's 
patent,  No.  322,170,  July  14,  1885. 

The  production  of  metals,  other  than  iron,  in  the  United  States  for  the 
year  1897,  was  as  follows : 

Gold,  2,774,935  ounces ;  worth  $57,363,000. 

Silver,  53,860,000  ounces;  worth  $32,316,000. 

Copper,  220,571  long  tons. 

Lead,  212,000  short  tons. 

Zinc,  99,980  short  tons. 

Aluminum,  4,000,000  Ibs. ;  worth  ($7l/2  cents  tb.)  $1,500,000. 

(This  was  three  times  the  product  of  1896.) 

Mercury,  26,691  flasks;  worth  $993,445. 

Nickel,  23,707  pounds;  worth  (33  cents  pound)  $7,823. 


394  THE  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 


CHAPTER  XXX.   • 
FIREARMS  AND  EXPLOSIVES. 

THE  CANNON  THE  MOST  ANCIENT  OF  FIREARMS — MUZZLE  AND  BREECH  LOADERS  OF 
THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY — THE  ARMSTRONG  GUN — THE  RODMAN,  DAHLGREN 
AND  PARROTT  GUNS — BREECH  LOADING  ORDNANCE — RAPID  FIRE  BREECH  LOADING 
RIFLES— DISAPPEARING  GUN — CATLING  GUN — DYNAMITE  GUN — THE  COLT  AND 
SMITH  &  WESSON  REVOLVERS — GERMAN  AUTOMATIC  PISTOL — BREECH  LOADING 
SMALL  ARMS— MAGAZINE  GUNS — THE  LEE,  KRAG-JORGENSEN,  AND  MAUSER 
RIFLES — HAMMERLESS  GUNS — REBOUNDING  LOCKS — GUN  COTTON— NITRO-GLYC- 

ERINE  AND   SMOKELESS    POWDER — MlNES  AND  TORPEDOES. 

STRANGE  as  it  may  appear,  the  evolution  of  an  enlightened  civiliza- 
tion and  the  deadly  use  of  firearms  have  developed  in  parallel 
lines.  What  relation  there  may  be  between  the  adoption  of  the 
teachings  of  Christ  to  men  to  love  one  another,  and  the 
invention  of  increased  facilities  among  men  for  killing  one  another, 
is  a  problem  for  the  philosopher.  Is  it  because  killing  at  long  range 
is  less  brutal,  or  does  the  deterrent  influence  of  this  increased  facility  oper- 
ate as  a  check  appealing  to  the  fear  of  the  individual,  or  is  the  cannon  one 
of  God's  missionaries  in  working  out  the  great  law  of  the  survival  of  the 
fittest  ?  Whatever  it  may  be,  there  does  seem  to  be  some  relation  of  cause 
and  effect  between  the  two  factors,  and  doubtless  all  three  of  the  causes 
have  exercised  a  contributory  influence.  In  the  olden  days  the  wage  of 
battle  was  almost  universally  decided  by  the  strength  of  brawn,  and  the 
higher  qualities  of  mind  were  subservient.  The  advent  of  firearms  has 
changed  all  this.  It  has  made  the  weakest  arm  equal  to  the  strongest  when 
supported  by  the  same  or  a  superior  mental  equipment,  and  this  has  made 
a  great  step  toward  the  supremacy  of  the  intellectual  against  the  attack  of 
the  physically  strong.  In  the  fifth  century  the  great  civilization  of  Rome 
fell  under  the  ruthless  attack  of  the  northern  barbarian.  Could  such  a 
thing  have  been  possible  with  the  gates  defended  by  Catling  guns,  maga- 
zine rifles,  and  dynamite  shells  ?  On  the  contrary,  we  find  to-day  a  handful 
of  trained  soldiers  equipped  with  modern  firearms  putting  to  flight  a 
horde  of  ignorant  savages.  The  history  of  modern  wars  is  filled  with  il- 
lustrations of  the  shifting  of  the  contest  among  men  from  an  issue  of  brute 
force  to  a  contest  of  brains,  and  of  the  support  rendered  the  latter  by  fire- 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


395 


arms.  But  is  war  really  necessary,  and  may  we  not  hope  that  it  shall 
cease  ?  We  can  only  say  that  the  ideal  sentiment  of  beating  the  sword  into 
the  plowshare  is  as  yet  the  dream  of  the  optimist,  for  man  has  gone  right 
along  in  perfecting  the  arts  of  war  and  raising  the  execution  of  firearms 
to  such  a  deadly  efficacy,  that  the  Nineteenth  Century  in  a  paramount  de- 
gree has  been  conspicuously  notable  for  its  advances  in  this  art.  Inven- 
tion after  invention  has  followed  in  such  rapid  succession,  even  to  the  last 
years  of  the  Nineteenth  Century,  until  war  now  assumes  the  conditions  of 
suicide  and  annihilation. 

No  coherent  history  of  firearms  and  explosives  is  possible  in  any  short 
review.  The  cannon,  bombard  or  mortar,  musket,  pistol  and  petard,  all 
belong  to  former  centuries,  and  in  one  form  or  another  extend  back  to  the 
most  ancient  times,  but  they  have  grown  in  the  Nineteenth  Century  into 
such  accuracy  and  distance  of  range,  into  such  rapidity  of  action,  into  such 
multiplied  efficiency  in  repeating  systems,  into  such  energy  of  explosives, 
and  such  convenient 
embodiment  and  pene- 
tration of  projectile, 
that  these  subjects 
must  must  needs  be 
considered  in  separate 
divisions. 

The  Cannon  is  the 
most  ancient  of  all  fire- 
arms, and,  like  gun- 
powder, is  believed  to 
have  had  its  origin  with 
the  Chinese.  In  the 
Eleventh  Century  the 
vessels  of  the  King  of 
Tunis,  in  the  attack  on 
Seville,  are  said  to  have 
had  on  board  iron  pipes 
from  which  a  thunder- 
ing fire  was  discharged. 

Conde,  in  his  history  of  the  Moors  in  Spain,  speaks  of  them  as  used 
in  that  country  as  early  as  1118.  Ferdinand,  in  1309,  took  Gibraltar  from 
the  Moors  by  cannon,  and  in  1346  the  English  used  them  at  the  battle  of 
Crecy,  and  from  that  time  on  they  became  a  common  weapon  of  warfare. 
In  the  first  cannon  used  the  balls  were  of  stone,  and  some  of  them  were  of 


FIG.   265. —   MUZZLE  LOADING  CANNON   OF  THE   SIXTEENTH 
CENTURY. 


396 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


enormous  size.  The  bronze  cannon  of  Mohammed  II.,  A.  D.,  1464,  had  a 
bore  of  25  inches,  and  threw  a  stone  ball  of  800  pounds.  The  Tzar- 
Pooschka,  the  great  bronze  gun  of  Moscow,  cast  in  1586,  was  even  larger, 
and  had  a  bore  36  inches  in  diameter.  Early  in  the  history  of  the  cannon 
the  breech-loading  feature  was  introduced.  In  Figs.  265  and  266  are 
shown  illustrations  from  the  Sixteenth  Century,  Fig.  265  representing  a 
muzzle  loader,  and  Fig.  266  a  breech-loader. 

Passing  through  various  stages  of  development,  the  cannon  came  down 

to  the  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury, and  was  known 
generally  as  ordnance 
or  artillery,  and  speci- 
fically as  cannon  or 
heavy  guns,  mortars 
for  throwing  shell  at  a 
great  elevation,  and 
howitzers  for  field, 
mountain,  or  siege,  and 
which  latter  are  lighter 
and  shorter  than  can- 
non, and  designed  to 
throw  hollow  projec- 
tiles with  comparative- 
ly small  charges.  The 
feature  of  importance 
in  the  cannon  which 
contributed  most  to  its 
efficiency  was  the  rifling 
of  the  bore  with  spiral 
grooves.  This,  by  giv- 
ing a  rotating  effect  to  the  projectile,  caused  it  to  maintain  a  truer  flight 
by  taking  advantage  of  the  law  of  physics  that  a  rotating  body  tends  to 
preserve  its  plane  of  rotation.  The  rifling  of  the  barrels  of  firearms  is, 
however,  of  very  ancient  origin.  The  British  patent  to  Rotsipen,  No.  71, 
of  1635,  is  an  early  disclosure  of  this  art.  The  patent  was  granted  him  for 

"Fourteen  yeares  if  he  live  soe  long."  *  *  *  "To  draw  or  to  shave  barrells 
for  pieces  of  all  sortes  straight  even  and  smooth,  and  to  make  anie  crooked  bar- 
rell  perfectly  straight  with  greate  ease,  and  to  rifle  cutt  out  or  screwe  barrells  as 
wyde  or  as  close  or  as  deepe  or  as  shallowe  as  shalbe  required,  with  greate  ease." 

The  rifle  grooves,  however,  were  first  made  spiral  or  "screwed"  by 


FIG.  266. — BREECH  LOADING  CANNON  OF  THE  SIXTEENTH 
CENTURY. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  397 

Koster,  of  Birmingham,  about  1620,  while  straight  grooves  are  said  to 
have  been  in  use  as  far  back  as  1498.  In  Berlin  there  is  a  rifled  cannon 
of  1664  with  thirteen  grooves.  Rifled  cannon  were  first  employed  in  actual 
service  in  Louis  Napoleon's  Italian  campaign  of  1859,  and  were  first  intro- 
duced in  the  United  States  service  by  General  James  in  1861. 

About  the  middle  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  a  great  impetus  was  given 
to  the  development  of  artillery  by  the  Crimean  War,  followed  by  the  Civil 
War  of  the  United  States. 

In  England  the  Armstrong  gun  was  introduced  about  1855,  and  was 
covered  by  British  patents  No.  401,  of  1857;  No.  2,564,  of  1858;  No.  611, 
of  1859,  and  No.  743,  of  1861.  This  originally  consisted  of  an  internal 
tube  of  wrought  iron  or  gun  metal,  with  cylindrical  casings  of  wrought 
iron  shrunk  on.  It  was  afterwards  improved  in  what  was  known  as  the 
Fraser  gun.  Ifr  Germany  the  operations  of  Krupp  as  a  gun  maker  began 
to  be  notable  about  this  period.  In  the  United  States,  Colonel  Rodman 
devised  a  means  of  casting  guns  of  large  calibre,  by  having  a  hollow  core 
through  which  water  was  circulated  to  rapidly  cool  and  harden  the  metal  in 
the  vicinity  of  the  bore,  and  to  relieve  the  unequal  strain  in  cooling.  He 
obtained  patent  No.  5,236,  August  14,  1847,  *or  tne  same.  The  Dahlgren 
gun  was  patented  August  6,  1861,  Nos.  32,983,  32,984,  and  32,985,  by 
Admiral  Dahlgren,  U.  S.  N.  The  improvement  covered  the  adjustment  of 
the  thickness  of  the  metal  at  the  breech  of  the  gun  to  the  varying  pressure 
strains  along  the  bore.  These  guns  were  distinguishable  by  the  smooth 
bulbous  breech  of  great  thickness  and  curvilinear  contour.  The  Parrott 
gun,  patented  October  i,  1861,  No.  33,401,  and  May  6,  1862,  No.  35,171, 
comprehended  a  form  of  hooped  ordnance  in  which  the  breech  was  re- 
enforced  by  an  encompassing  hoop  or  sleeve,  which  was  shrunk  on. 

Brccch-L'oading  Ordnance. — While  the  breech-loading  cannon  is  sev- 
eral centuries  old,  and  was,  in  fact,  one  of  the  first  forms  of  that  firearm, 
it  is  to  this  principle  of  action  that  the  rapid  fire  and  great  execution  of  the 
modern  weapon  are  chiefly  due.  The  earliest  of  existing  forms  of  breech 
mechanism  is  that  which  comprehends  the  channeling  of  the  breech  trans- 
versely to  receive  a  tapered  plug,  which  permits  the  charge  to  be  placed 
in  the  open  rear  end  of  the  gun  in  front  of  the  channel,  and  the  transverse 
plug  then  closed  behind  the  charge.  This  is  described  in  Hadley's  British 
patent  No.  577,  of  1741 ;  was  first  patented  in  the  United  States  in  a 
modified  form  by  Wright  and  Gould,  No.  22,325,  December  14,  1858,  and 
afterwards  came  to  be  known  as  the  Broadwell  system,  being  developed  by 
him  and  covered  in  patents  No.  33,876  ,of  December  10,  1861 ;  No.  43,553, 
July  12,  1864,  and  No.  55,762,  June  19,  1866.  This  general  principle  is 


398 


THE  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 


still  employed  by  Krupp  in  some  of  his  guns,  and  as  used  by  him  is  shown 
in  Fig.  267.  The  transverse  channel  through  the  breech  is  tapered,  and 
the  sliding  breech  block  X  is  slightly  wedge-shaped  to  fit  tightly  therein. 
When  the  breech  block  is  withdrawn  for  loading,  as  shown,  a  sleeve  S, 
shown  in  dotted  lines,  is  temporarily  arranged  in  alignment  with  the  bore 

and  gives  smooth  passage 
way  to  the  charge  to  a  posi- 
tion in  front  of  the  breech 
block.  This  sleeve  is  then 

—  s^^^S^S'V^C"""  "  withdrawn,       the      breech 

|    ||y  't^|\j:j'''  block     forced    in,    and     is 

there  locked  by  a  turn  of 
the  threads  of  a  locking 
screw  b  into  the  corre- 
sponding recesses  a  in  the 
breech.  A  detachable 


FIG.  267. THE  KRUPP  BREECH  MECHANISM. 


wrench   e  may   be  applied 
either  to  the  screw  d  b  to 

turn  it  to  lock  or  unlock,  or  to  the  traversing  screw  c,  which,  by  engaging 
with  a  nut  (not  shown),  runs  the  breech  block  in  and  out. 

By  far  the  most  popular  principle  of  the  breech  block,  however,  is  that 
of  the  interrupted  thread,  shown  in  Fig.  268,  in  which  the  plug,  when 
closed,  has  its  axis  in  alignment  with  the  axial  bore  of  the  gun.  Its 
threads  are  interrupted  by  longitudinally  arranged  channels,  and  the 
breech  of  the  gun  has  corresponding  threads  and  channels.  When  the 
plug  is  pushed  into  the  gun,  the  screw  threads  of  the  plug  enter  the  chan- 
nels. of  the  breech,  and  a  rotary  turn  of  the  screw  plug  then  locks  its 
threads  into  those  of  the  breech.  The  screw  plug  is  supported  by  a  carrier 
hinged  at  one  side  to  the  gun,  and  arranged  to  swing  the  plug  into  axial 
alignment  with  the  bore,  or  be  thrown  to  one  side  to  admit  the  charge. 
The  patents  to  Chambers,  No.  6,612,  July  31,  1849  (re-issue  No.  237, 
April  19,  1853),  and  to  Cochran,  No.  26,256,  November  29,  1859,  are  the 
earliest  American  examples  of  this  principle  of  action,  and  are  believed  to 
be  the  original  inventions  of  the  same. 

In  one  form  or  another  this  construction  enters  into  most  all  modern 
breech  mechanisms.  Among  the  forms  used  by  the  United  States  are  the 
Driggs-Seabury,  the  Dashiell,  and  the  Vickers-Maxim.  To  prevent  the 
expanding  gases  from  driving  through  the  crevices  of  the  breech  block, 
expanding  or  swelling  rings,  known  as  gas  checks,  are  arranged  on  the 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  399 

front  of  the  breech  block.    De  Bange's  patent,  No.  301,220,  July  i,  1884, 
covers  the  most  popular  form. 

The  elements  of  efficiency  of  the  modern  rapid-fire  breech-loading  rifle 
are  to  be  found  in  the  following  features :   First,  in  the  increased  length  of 


FIG.  268. — INTERRUPTED  THREAD  BREECH   MECHANISM. 

the  gun,  which,  for  a  6-inch  gun  is  now  as  much  as  25  feet,  the  increased 
length  lending  a  longer  period  of  expansion  for  the  explosion  of  the  pow- 
der charge,  and  imparting  a  correspondingly  higher  momentum ;  secondly, 
in  the  fixed  ammunition,  which  means  a  cartridge  case  in  which  a  metallic 
shell  encloses  the  powder  charge,  and  is  connected  with  the  projectile,  and 
third,  in  the  great  improvement  and  rapidity  of  action  of  the  breech  mech- 
anism, which  permits  as  many  as  eight  rounds  per  minute  to  be  fired. 
In  Fig.  269  is  shown  a  6-inch  rapid-fire  gun  of  the  United  States  Navyr 
loaded,  and  being  sighted  for  fire.  Rapid-fire  guns  of  this  class  represent 
the  most  effective  form  of  modern  ordnance.  It  was  largely  such  rapid 
fire  batteries  of  Admiral  Dewey's  squadron  that  swept  the  Spanish  fleet  out 
of  existence  at  Manila,  and  that  demolished  the  fleet  of  Cervera  at  Santi- 
ago by  the  awful  hail  of  shells  poured  into  his  ships.  These  relatively 
small  guns  throw  a  shell  six  miles,  and  the  striking  energy  of  their  pro- 
jectiles at  the  muzzle  is  equal  to  the  penetration  of  iron  plate  21  inches 
thick,  or  16  inches  of  steel.  When  the  gun  is  loaded,  it  is  held  in  the  for- 
ward position  by  coil  springs,  inclosed  in  cylinders  and  holding  a  recoil  seat 
for  the  trunnions,  and  also  has  two  pistons  traveling  in  cylinders  filled 
with  glycerine.  When  the  gun  is  fired,  the  recoil  causes  it  to  slide  back, 


400 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


carrying  the  pistons,  and  the  recoil  is  checked  by  the  resistance  of  the 
glycerine  traveling  through  an  opening  past  the  pistons.  After  full  recoil, 
the  gun  is  automatically  returned  to  its  forward  position  by  the  action  of 
the  coil  springs,  which  are  compressed  during  the  recoil.  The  gun  crew 
is  protected  by  Harveyized  steel  plate  4  inches  thick,  and  the  gun  is  so 


FIG.  269. SIGHTING  A   SIX-INCH  RAPID  FIRE  GUN. 

delicately  mounted  on  ball  bearings  that  its  great  weight  of  "jl/2  tons  re- 
sponds readily  to  the  slight  pressure  in  training  the  same. 

Powerful  as  these  guns  appear  to  be,  their  big  brothers  in  the  revolving 
turrets  are  far  more  so.  While  not  so  nimble  in  action,  the  great  power 
of  these  guns  of  the  main  battery,  and  the  elaboration  and  completeness 
of  mechanism  for  operating  them,  for  supplying  them  with  ammunition, 
and  for  rotating  the  turrets,  constitute  a  complete  world  in  ordnance  in 
itself.  As  the  gun  increases  in  size,  its  cost  both  in  construction  and 
service  increases  in  a  greatly  disproportionate  ratio.  A  6-inch  breech- 


IN    THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY. 


401 


loading  rifle  costs  $64.40  for  each  discharge,  while  a  1 2-inch  gun  costs 
$458  for  each  discharge.  The  largest  guns  of  our  battleships  are  of  13 
inch  calibre,  and  about  40  feet  long,  but  larger  ones  are  employed  for  sea 
coast  defenses.  The  great  1 6-inch  126-ton  gun,  now  building  for  the 
United  States  at  the  Watervliet  arsenal,  is  49^  feet  long,  over  6  feet  in 
diameter  at  the  breech,  and  it  will  have  an  extreme  range  of  over  twenty 
miles.  Its  projectile  will  weigh  2,370  pounds,  and  it  will  cost  $865  to  fire 
the  gun  once.  The  accompanying  view,  Fig.  270,  will  give  graphic  illus- 


20.978  MILES - 

FIG.    270. — RANGE  OF   SIXTEEN-INCH   GUN. 

tration  of  the  range  of  this  gun.  If  fired  at  its  maximum  elevation  from 
the  battery  at  the  south  end  of  New  York  in  a  northerly  direction,  its  pro- 
jectile would  pass  over  the  city  of  New  York,  over  Grant's  Tomb,  Spuyten 
Duyvil,  Riverdale,  Mount  St.  Vincent,  Ludlow,  Yonkers,  and  would  land 
near  Hastings-on-the-Hudson,  nearly  twenty  miles  away,  as  shown  in  our 
map,  Fig.  271.  The  extreme  height  of  its  trajectory  would  be  30,516  feet, 
or  nearly  six  miles.  This  means  that  if  Pike's  Peak,  of  the  Western  Hem- 
isphere, had  piled  on  top  of  it  Mont  Blanc,  of  the  Eastern  Hemisphere, 
this  gun  would  hurl  its  enormous  projectile  so  high  above  them  both  as  to 
still  leave  space  below  its  curve  to  build  Washington's  Monument  on  top  of 
Mont- Blanc,  as  shown  in  Fig.  270. 

The  Disappearing  Gun. — The  importance  of  secreting  the  location  of 
the  battery  in  coast  defences,  and  the  better  protection  of  the  gunners,  have 
suggested  a  species  of  gun  carriage  which  would  permit  the  gun  to  be 
normally  hidden  behind  and  under  the  protection  of  the  parapet,  and  be 
only  temporarily  elevated  to  a  position  above  the  parapet  while  firing. 
Various  forms  of  this  have  been  devised.  General  R.  E.  De  Russy,  Corps 
Engineers,  U.  S.  A.,  devised  such  a  carriage  in  1835.  Moncrief,  of 
England,  was  one  of  the  first  to  put  in  practice  such  a  form  of  carriage. 
T  Tnited  States  patents  covering  this  invention  were  granted  him  as  follows : 


402 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


No.  83,873,  November  10,  1868;  No.  115,502,  May  30,  1871,  and  No. 
144,120,  October  28,  1873.  Its  principle  of  operation  was  to  utilize  the 
force  of  the  recoil  as  a  power  to  raise  the  gun  into  firing  position.  The 
gun  is  fulcrumed  in  a  lever  frame  provided  with  a  counterpoise  which 


FTG.    271. — RADIUS    OF    ACTION    OF    SIXTEEN-INCH    GUN. 

more  than  balances  the  gun.  When  the  gun  is  fired  the  recoil  raises  the 
counterweight,  and  the  gun  descends  and  is  locked  in  its  lower  position. 
When  loaded  and  released  the  counterpoise  raises  the  gun  again  to  firing 
position. 

Among  later  gun  carriages  of  this  type  of  American  construction  may 
be  mentioned  those  devised  by  Spiller,  Gordon,  Howell,  and  others/but  the 
one  most  generally  known  is  the  Buffington-Crozier,  covered  by  patents 
No.  555,426,  February  25,  1896,  and  No.  613,252,  November  i,  1898. 
This  carriage,  sustaining  the  8  and  10  inch  breech-loading  rifles  at  Fort 
Wadsworth  for  the  defence  of  New  York  harbor,  is  shown  in  Figs.  272 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


403 


404 


THE  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  405 

and  273,  Fig.  272  representing  it  in  its  lowered  position,  and  Fig.  273  in 
its  elevated  position  for  firing.  The  trunnions  of  the  gun  rest  in  bearings 
at  the  upper  ends  of  the  pair  of  levers,  which  latter  are  fulcrumed  near  the 
middle  to  horizontally  sliding  carriages  connected  to  hydraulic  cylinders 
that  move  backward  as  the  gun  recoils.  These  cylinders  move  over  sta- 
tionary pistons  which  have  orifices  that  allow  the  liquid  to  pass  from  one 
side  of  the  piston  to  the  other.  As  the  gun  recoils  and  the  levers  turn  to 
the  horizontal  position,  the  forward  ends  of  the  levers  are  made  to  raise 
vertically  an  immense  leaden  counterweight,  weighing  32,000  pounds, 
which  ordinarily  over-balances  the  weight  of  the  gun  on  the  levers.  This 
cylindrical  counterweight  is  seen  raised  on  the  left  of  Fig.  272.  In  firing, 
the  energy  of  the  recoil  is  absorbed  partly  by  raising  the  counterweight, 
and  partly  by  the  resistance  of  the  hydraulic  cylinders,  and  when  the  gun 
reaches  its  lowest  position  it  is  caught -and  retained  by  pawls.  After  load- 
ing the  pawls  are  tripped,  and  the  greater  gravity  of  the  counterweight 
raises  the  gun  to  firing  position  again.  Ten  shots  from  an  8-inch  gun  on 
this  carriage  have  been  fired  in  12  minutes  21  seconds. 

The  Machine  Gun. — During  the  Civil  War  a  gun  made  its  appearance 
which,  although  of  small  calibre,  rivaled  in  its  deadly  effectiveness  the 
wholesale  slaughter  of  the  cannon.  It  was  a  new  type,  and  was  known  as 
the  machine  gun,  or  battery  gun,  in  which  balls  of  comparatively  small 
size  were  discharged  uninterruptedly  and  in  incredible  succession.  It  was 
the  invention  of  Dr.  R.  J.  Catling,  and  was  covered  by  him  in  patents  No. 
36,836,  November  4,  1862,  and  No.  47,631,  May  9,  1865,  and  in  many  sub- 
sequent patents  for  minor  improvements,  and  is  now  universally  known 
as  the  Catling  gun.  It  consisted  of  a  circular  series  of  barrels  mounted 
on  a  central  shaft,  and  revolved  by  suitable  gears  and  a  hand  crank.  The 
cartridges  were  automatically  and  successively  fed  into  the  chambers  of 
the  barrel,  and  its  several  hammers  were  so  arranged  in  connection  with 
the  barrels  that  the  whole  operation  of  loading,  closing  the  breech,  dis- 
charging and  expelling  the  empty  cartridge  cases  was  conducted 
while  the  barrels  were  kept  in  a  continuous  revolving  movement 
by  turning  the  hand  crank.  In  Fig.  274  is  shown  a  modern  ex- 
ample of  the  Catling  gun  equipped  with  the  Accles  feed.  Ordinarily 
the  gun  has  ten  barrels,  with  ten  corresponding  locks,  which 
revolve  together  during  the  working  of  the  gun.  When  the  gun  is  in 
action  there  are  always  five  cartridges  going  through  the  process  of  load- 
ing, and  five  empty  shells  in  different  stages  of  being  extracted,  and  many 
hundred  shots  a  minute  can  be  fired.  Many  modifications  of  this  gun 
have  been  made  by  Hotchkiss  and  others.  Maxim,  Nordenfelt,  and  Benet 


406  THE  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 

have  each  made  valuable  inventions  in  machine  guns  of  a  somewhat  differ- 
ent type,  some  of  which  utilize  the  force  of  the  exploding  charges  to  react 
on  the  feed  and  firing  mechanism,  and  thus  furnish  the  power  to  continue 


FIG.   274. — CATLING  GUN  ON   UNITED  STATES   ARMY   MODEL  CARRIAGE. 

the  consecutive  operation  of  the  gun,  so  that  no  hand  crank  is  required, 
but  the  gun  works  itself  with  an  incessant  hail  of  balls  until  its  supply  of 
cartridges  is  exhausted. 

The  Dynamite  Gun. — Most  impressive  to  the  layman,  and  most  de- 
moralizing to  the  enemy,  is  this  latter  day  form  of  ordnance.  The  first 
efforts  to  hurl  dynamite  shells  from  a  gun  were  made  with  compressed  air 
for  fear  of  prematurely  exploding  the  sensitive  dynamite  in  the  gun,  which 
would  be  more  disastrous  to  the  gunners  themselves  than  to  the  enemy. 
The  Zalinski  dynamite  gun  was  of  this  class,  and  the  first  which  attained 
any  notoriety.  Foolhardy  as  it  might  appear,  Yankee  genius  was  led  to 
believe  that  dynamite  shells  could  be  fired  with  powder  charges,  and  this 
is  now  done  in  a  practical  and  safe  way  in  the  Sims-Dudley  Dynamite  Gun. 
This  is  manufactured  under  the  fundamental  patents  of  Dudley,  Nos.  407,- 
474,  407,475,  407,476,  of  July  23,  1889,  which  cover  a  method  of  exploding 
a  charge  of  powder  in  one  gun  barrel,  and  causing  it  to  compress  the  air  in 
front  of  it,  and  force  it  into  another  barrel  behind  the  dynamite  shell,  so 
that  this  relatively  cool  body  of  air  is  interposed  between  the  hot  powder 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


407 


gases  and  the  dynamite.  Fig.  275  represents  Dudley's  patent  drawing. 
C  is  the  powder  charge  in  barrel  A,  and  H  is  the  dynamite  shell  in  barrel 
G.  The  front  of  barrel  A  is  connected  to  the  rear  of  barrel  G  behind  the 


FIG.   275. — DYNAMITE  GUN,  DUDLEY^   PATENT,  JULY  23,    1889. 

dynamite  shell  by  the  tube  F.  When  the  powder  C  explodes,  all  the  air  in 
barrel  A  and  tube  F  is  driven  out  and  acts  on  the  dynamite  shell  H  to  dis- 
charge it  without  allowing  it  to  come  in  contact  with  the  hot  powder  gases. 
A  frangible  plate  D  closes  the  end  of  barrel  A,  but  blows  out  above  a  cer- 
tain pressure  to  avoid  bursting  strain  in  the  gun.  The  Sims  patent,  No. 
619,025,  February  7,  1899,  covers  a  more  simple  and  practical  form  of 
constructing  a  gun  on  this  principle,  and  the  gun  as  used  in  the  United 
States  is  constructed  in  accordance  with  this  latter  improvement. 

Small  Arms. — Pistols  and  guns  are  the  two  classes  into  which  the  lay- 
man divides  small  arms,  although  in  latter  years  this  classification  has  been 
much  disturbed  by  the  western  frontiersman,  who  calls  his  pistol  a  gun, 
and  by  the  artillerist,  who  also  calls  his  cannon  a  gun. 

The  pistol  may  be  defined  as  a  small  arm  held  in  one  hand  to  be  fired. 
It  is  an  ancient  weapon,  but  had  attained  no  special  importance  or  popu- 
larity prior  to  the  Nineteenth  Century.  The  duelling  pistol,  with  its  long 
barrel,  its  hair  trigger  and  inlaid  stock,  and  the  derringer,  with  its  short 
barrel  of  large  bore,  were  the  popular  forms.  Not  until  the  revolver  made 
its  appearance  did  the  pistol  attain  any  importance.  Colt  is  popularly 
credited  with  having  invented  this,  but  it  is  really  a  very  old  principle. 


408  THE  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 

In  the  Alte  Deutscher  Drehling  Der  Ruckladungs  Gewehre,  by  Edward 
Zernin,  1872,  Darmstadt  and  Leipzig,  is  shown  an  ancient  form  of  match 
lock  revolver,  said  to  belong  to  the  period  1480-1500.  It  is  probably  the 
same  as  the  match-lock  revolver  in  the  museum  of  the  Tower  of  London, 
which  is  also  credited  to  the  Fifteenth  Century.  In  the  British  patent  to 
Puckle,  No.  418,  of  1718,  is  shown  and  described  a  well-constructed  re- 
volver carried  on  a  tripod,  and  of  the  dimensions  of  the  modern  machine 
gun.  The  inventor  naively  states  that  it  has  round  chambers  for  round 
balls,  designed  for  Christians,  and  square  chambers,  with  square  balls,  for 
the  Turks.  The  first  revolving  firearm  in  the  United  States  was  made 
by  John  Gill,  of  Newberne,  N.  C.,  in  1829.  It  had  fourteen  chambers,  and 
was  a  percussion  gun,  but  was  never  patented.  The  first  revolver  patented 
in  the  United  States  was  that  to  D.  G.  Colburn,  June  29,  1833.  The  re- 
volver of  Col.  Samuel  Colt  was  patented  February  25,  1836,  (re-issue 
No.  124,  October  24,  1848),  and  again  August  29,  1839,  No.  I-3°45 
September  3,  1850,  No.  7,613,  and  September  10,  1850,  No.  7,629.  It 
was  the  first  practical  invention  of  this  kind,  and  it  embodied  as  a  leading 
feature  the  automatic  rotation  of  the  cylinder  in  cocking  by  a  pawl  on  the 
hammer  engaging  a  ratchet  on  the  end  of  the  cylinder. 

Various   types   followed,   such  as  the  old   pepper  box,   patented  by 
Darling  April  13,  1836;  the  self-cocking  pepper  box,  patented  by  Allen, 


FIG.   276. — SMITH    &   WESSON   REVOLVER   DISCHARGING   SHELLS. 

No.  3,998,  April  16,  1845 ;  the  four  sliding  barrels  of  Sharp,  No.  6,960, 
December  18,  1849,  ancj  many  others.  The  most  popular  and  successful, 
however,  of  the  succeeding  types  is  that  of  Smith  &  Wesson,  shown 
in  Fig.  276,  and  covered  by  many  patents.  One  of  its  most  important 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  409 

features  is  the  simultaneous  extraction  of  the  shells  by  an  ejector,  having 
a  stem  sliding  through  the  cylinder.  This  was  the  invention  of  W.  C. 
Dodge,  patented  January  17,  1865,  No.  45,912,  re-issue  No.  4,483,  July 
25,  1871.  In  Fig.  277  is  shown  Smith  &  Wesson's  latest  pattern  of  Ham- 


FIG.   277. — SMITH   &-  WESSON   SELF  ACTING  HAMMERLESS  REVOLVER. 

merless  Safety  Revolver,  with  automatic  shell  extractor  and  rebounding 
lock. 

The  latest  development  in  this  class  of  arms  is  the  automatic  magazine 
pistol,  designed  for  the  use  of  the  officers  of  the  German  army,  and 
adapted  to  fire  ten  shots  in  as  many  seconds.  Only  a  slight  pressure  on 
the  trigger  is  necessary,  as  it  is  not  required  to  perform  the  work  of  turn- 
ing any  other  part  by  the  trigger,  as  is  the  case  in  the  self-cocking  re- 
.  volver.  The  pressure  of  gas  at  each  explosion  does  all  the  work  of  pushing 
back  the  closing  piece  of  the  breech  through  the  recoil  of  the  shell,  extracts 
and  ejects  the  shell,  cocks  the  hammer,  and  also  compresses  recuperative 
springs,  which  effect  the  reloading  and  closing  of  the  weapon,  all  of  these 
functions  being  performed  in  proper  sequence  at  each  explosion  in  a  frac- 
tion of  a  second.  The  act  of  firing  thus  prepares  the  pistol  for  the  next 
shot  automatically.  In  Fig.  278  are  shown  two  makes  of  pistol  of  this 
type.  No.  i  is  known  as  the  Mauser  (United  States  patent  No.  584,479, 
June  15,  1897)  ;  No.  2  shows  it  with  an  extemporized  stock,  to  be  used 
as  a  carbine  in  firing  from  the  shoulder.  This  stock  is  hollow  and  forms 
the  holster  or  case  for  the  pistol.  At  No.  3  is  shown  the  Mannlicher 
pistol  (United  States  patent  No.  581,296,  April  27,  1897),  which  is 
another  form  of  the  same  type.  In  the  Mauser  the  breech  moves  to  the 
rear  during  recoil.  In  the  Mannlicher  the  barrel  moves  to  the  front, 
leaving  space  for  a  fresh  cartridge  to  come  up  from  the  magazine  below. 


410 


THE  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 


The  calibre  of  this  pistol  is  0.3  inch,  and  the  initial  velocity  1,395  feet-    At 
33  feet   the  ball  passes  through  io}4  inches  of  spruce,  at  490  through  5 


inches,  and  its  extreme  range  is  3,000  feet,  or  more  than  half  a  mile. 
When  empty  it  is  quickly  re-charged  with  cartridges,  which  are  made 
up  in  sets  of  ten  in  a  case  and  inserted  in  one  movement. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  411 

Breech-Loading  Guns. — Although  the  breech-loading  principle  was 
well  known  prior  to  the  Nineteenth  Century,  it  remained  for  this  period 
to  give  it  effective  development.  The  first  United  States  patent  for  a 
breech-loading  gun  was  to  Thornton  and  Hall,  May  21,  1811.  It  was  a 
flint  lock,  and  many  of  these  arms  were  made  at  Harper's  Ferry  Armory 
in  1814,  and  issued  to  the  troops,  one  being  given  by  order  of  Congress 
to  each  member  cf  Congress  to  take  home  with  him  to  show  to  his  con- 
stituents. The  present  style  of  break-down  gun  was  invented  by  Pauly,  in 
France,  and  is  to  be  found  in  his  British  patent  No.  3,833,  of  1814. 
Lefaucheux,  of  Paris,  however,  made  this  form  of  gun  practical.  Mine- 
singer,  in  United  States  patent  No.  6,139,  February  27,  1849,  supplied  the 
important  improvement  of  making  the  front  edge  of  tile  metallic  cartridge 
shell  thinner  than  elsewhere,  so  as  to  expand  by  the  pressure  of  the  ex- 
ploding charge,  and  swell  -to  a  tight  fit  of  the  barrel.  The  Maynard  rifle, 
first  patented  May  27,  1851,  No.  8,126,  was  one  of  the  earliest  practical 
forms  of  breech-loaders. 

Magazine  Guns. — Walter  Hunt's  United  States  patent  No.  6,663, 
August  21,  1849,  was  the  first  on  a  magazine  firearm  of  modern  type. 
It  had  a  sliding  breech  block  carrying  the  main  spring  and  firing  pin.  The 
Spencer  rifle  was  one  of  the  early  ones  that  came  into  use.  This  had  a 
row  of  cartridges  in  the  stock,  and  was  first  patented  March  6,  1860,  No. 
27,393.  It  was  tm's  weapon  which  in  the  Civil  War  gave  proof  of  the 
deadly,  efficacy  of  the  breech-loading  magazine  gun,  and  its  superiority  to 
the  old  style  military  arm.  Another  type  of  magazine  firearm  which  in 
the  last  half  century  has  gained  great  prominence  and  popularity  is  the 
so-called  "Winchester."  This  has  its  cartridges  arranged  in  a  tube  below 
and  parallel  with  the  barrel,  and  they  are  fed  in  a  column  to  the  rear  by 
a  helical  spring  as  fast  as  they  are  used  up  at  the  breech.  The  pioneer  of 
this  type  is  the  arm  patented  by  Smith  &  Wesson  February  14,  1854,  No. 
10,535,  re-issued  December  30,  1873,  No.  5,710.  This  was  subsequently 
improved  as  to  the  extractor  by  B.  F.  Henry  in  patent  No.  30.446,  October 
16,  1860,  re-issued  December  7,  1868,  No.  3,227,  and  was  manufactured 
and  favorably  known  for  many  years  as  the  Henry  rifle.  This  rifle  was 
also  used  in  the  Civil  War.  O.  F.  Winchester  subsequently  re-organized 
it  in  patent  No.  57,808,  September  4,  1866,  and  the  arm  in  late  years  has 
taken  his  name. 

The  Needle  Gun,  of  Prussia,  represents  an  early  form  of  breech  loader, 
and  may  be  considered  the  prototype  of  the  modern  bolt  gun.  The  needle 
gun  has  in  the  place  of  the  swinging  hammer  a  rectilinearly  sliding  bolt, 
carrying  in  front  a  needle  which  pierces  the  charge  and  ignites  the  fulmi- 


412  THE   PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 

nate  by  its  friction.  Its  construction  permits  the  fulminate  to  be  placed 
in  advance  of  the  powder,  which  thus  burns  from  the  front,  and  is  entirely 
consumed  in  the  gun,  instead  cf  being  partially  blown  out  of  the  gun,  as 
may  occur  when  ignited  in  the  rear.  The  needle  gun  was  invented  by 
Dreyse  in  1838,  was  first  introduced  about  1846,  and  gave  effective  service 
in  the  Prusso- Austrian  war  of  1866.  The  Chasscpot,  brought  out  in 
1867,  United  States  patent  No.  60,832,  was  a  French  development  of  the 
Prussian  needle  gun. 

About  1879  two  forms  of  magazine  guns  appeared  which  have  become 
types  for  most  all  subsequent  guns  of  this  class.  Both  of  them  employed 
the  bolt  system  as  previously  embodied  in  the  needle  gun,  but  added  to  it 
the  magazine  principle  and  changed  the  method  of  supplying  and  feeding 
the  cartridges.  One  was  the  invention  of  James  Lee,  and  the  other  was 
the  joint  invention  of  Colonel  Livermore,  of  the  Corps  of  Engineers,  and 
Major  Russell,  of  the  Ordnance  Department,  U.  S.  A.  In  the  Lee,  whose 

name  has  been  much  in  evi- 
dence in  late  years,  there  was 
a  relatively  small  detachable 
box  (see  Fig.  279)  capable  of 
holding  five  cartridges  and 
designed  to  be  filled  and  then 
placed  in  a  slot  opening  cen- 
trally under  the  gun,  below 
the  receiver,  and  directly  in 

,  PAnBK.  ^  of  ^  ^^  ^       A 

spring    within    the    magazine 

fed  the  cartridges  up  into  alignment  with  the  barrel.  Lee's  first  patent 
was  No.  221,328,  November  4,  1879. 

The  Livermore-Russel  gun,  patented  October  28,  1879,  No.  221,079, 
had  a  magazine  opening  transversely  in  the  upper  edge  of  the  stock  behind 
the  bolt,  and  the  cartridges  were  fed  to  the  barrel  beneath  the  bolt.  The 
important  feature  of  the  gun,  however,  was  a  cartridge  case  slotted  on  its 
side  and  detachable  from  the  gun,  and  each  bearing  a  group  of  five 
cartridges,  which  were  to  be  thus  made  up  in  small  packets  and  carried  in 
the  belt  or  cartridge  box  of  the  soldier.  This  idea  was  subsequently  de- 
veloped by  Livermore  and  Russel  in  patent  No.  230,823,  August  3,  1880, 
and  this  feature,  viewed  in  the  light  of  the  importance  subsequently  at- 
tained by  the  "clip"  in  the  Mauser  and  Mannlicher  guns,  may  be  fairly 
considered  the  pioneer  of  this  idea  of  grouping  cartridges  in  made-up 
packets  for  bolt  guns.  Its  great  advantage  is  the  large  number  of  shots 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


413 


that  may  be  fired  in  a  short  space  of  time  without  an  excessive  weight  in 
the  gun  itself. 

Subsequent  patents  for  improvements  were  taken  by  Lee  as  follows: 
No.  513,647,  January  30,  1894,  and  No.  547,583,  October  8,  1895,  and  the 
gun  used  by  the  United  States  Navy  is  modeled  along  the  lines  of  Lee's 
invention. 

The  Krag-Jorgensen  Magazine  Rifle  was  patented  June  10,  1890,  No. 
429,811,  and  February  21,  1893,  No.  492,212.  It  is  the  arm  adopted  by 
the  United  States  infantry  service,  and  is  seen  in  Fig.  280.  The  fixed 
magazine  chamber, 
shown  in  the  cross  sec- 
tion, passes  through 
the  breech  laterally  be- 
low the  barrel,  and  is 
filled  with  cartridges  on 
one  side  of  the  gun, 
which  cartridges  pass 
through  the  breech  lat- 
erally, and,  turning  a 
curve,  enter  the  barrel 
from  the  opposite  side. 
When  the  bolt  is  drawn 
back  by  the  knob  handle 
a  cartridge  is  fed  up  in- 
to position  to  enter  the 
barrel,  and  when  pushed  forward  the  cartridge  is  forced  into  the  bore  of 
the  gun,  and  at  the  same  time  a  spiral  spring  is  put  under  tension  to  set 
the  hammer  of  the  gun,  which  carries  a  firing  pin  at  its  front  end.  When 
the  trigger  is  pulled  the  hammer  and  firing  pin  plunge  forward  to  explode 
the  cap  in  the  cartridge,  and  when  the  handle  of  the  bolt  is  drawn  back 
again  to  extract  the  empty  shell,  a  fresh  cartridge  rises  to  take  its  place. 

The  Mauser  Rifle  is  shown  in  Fig.  281.  This  is  the  arm  of  which  so 
much  was  heard  during  the  recent  war  with  Spain,  and  against  which 
our  soldiers  had  to  contend.  Five  cartridges  are  carried  in  a  magazine 
immediately  in  front  of  the  trigger,  and  are  fed  up  by  a  subjacent  spring, 
one  at  a  time,  centrally  through  the  breech  into  line  with  the  barrel,  as 
the  bolt  with  the  knobbed  handle  is  worked  back  and  forth.  The  cartridges 
are  carried  by  the  soldier  in  groups  of  five  in  a  "clip,"  which  is  a  simple 
strip  of  metal  with  inturned  parallel  edges,  which  enclose  the  flanged 
heads  of  the  cartridges  as  they  project  at  right  angles  to  the  clip.  To 


FIG.   280. — KRAG-JORGENSEN    MAGAZINE  RIFLE. 


THE  PROGRESS   OF  INVENTION 


FIG.   28l. — THE   MAUSER  RIFLE  AND  CLIP. 


transfer  the  cartridges  to  the  magazine,  the  clip  with  its  cartridges  is 
placed  above  the  barrel,  and  the  cartridges  forced  down  out  of  the  clip 
into  the  magazine.  In  the  Mannlicher  gun,  adopted  by  the  German  army, 
the  clip  which  holds  the  cartridges  is  itself  inserted  into  the  magazine, 
along  with  the  cartridges. 

The  modern  trend  of  development  in  firearms  has  been  toward  the 

reduction  of  calibre, 
the  standard  for  small 
arms  being  30/10x3. 
The  lead  bullets 
are  covered  with  a 
seamless  jacket  of 
harder  metal  (Gei- 
ger's  patents,  No. 
306,738  and  306,739, 
October  21,  1884), 
which  prevents  the 
"leading"  and  foul- 
ing of  the  gun,  and 
the  distortion  of  the 
bullet.  Modern  magazine  guns  permit  twenty-five  to  thirty  shots  a  minute 
as  single  loaders,  and  besides  they  hold  in  reserve  five  cartridges.  They 
have  a  killing  range  of  a  mile,  and  the  cost  of  the  cartridge  is  3.2  cents.  At 
a  trial  ac  the  Washington  Navy  Yard  a  few  years  past  a  steel  projectile 
1.07  inches  long  and  32/100  calibre  penetrated  solid  iron  1.15  inch  thick, 
fired  at  an  angle  of  80°.  It  also  penetrated  50  inches  of  pine  boards,  and 
its  range  was  estimated  at  three  miles. 

Hamrnerless  Guns. — Among  improvements  in  shot  guns  the  so-called 
"hammerless"  feature  is  a  noteworthy  departure.  This  hides  the  hammers 
in  the  breech  and  cocks  them  by  the  act  of  breaking  down  the  gun.  In 
Fig.  282  is  given  a  section  and  plan  view  of  the  Greener  mechanism,  which 
was  patented  July  6,  1880,  No.  229,604,  and  was  one  of  the  first  guns  of 
this  kind  put  on  the  market.  The  hammers  A  are  constructed  as  elbow 
levers.  Their  upper  ends  have  each  a  round  point  adapted  to  strike 
through  a  small  hole  in  the  breech  onto  the  cap  of  the  cartridge.  The 
lower  front  portions  of  the  hammers  are  extended  forward  and  curved 
inwardly  toward  each  other,  so  that  their  inner  ends  nearly  meet.  C  is  a 
pendent  hook  jointed  to  the  barrel,  and  when  the  latter  is  tilted,  as  shown 
in  dotted  lines,  the  hook  acting  upon  the  forwardly  projecting  arms  of 
the  hammers  turns  them  backward  to  the  cocked  position,  in  which  they 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


415 


are  retained  by  the  dogs  B  engaging  with  their  notches.  As  the  hammers 
move  back  the  mainspring  is  compressed,  and  when  the  dog  B  is  removed 
from  the  notch  by  pulling  on  the  trigger,  the  hammers  are  released  and 
the  gun  fired. 

The  rebounding  lock,  now  universally  applied  to  shot  guns,  is  another 
comparatively  recent  improvement.  This  promotes  safety  by  causing 
the  hammers  to  be  normally  and  automatically  held  away  from  the  firing 
pins.  The  first  practical  form  of  this  lock  was  patented  by  Hailer,  July 
26,  1870,  No.  105,799,  m  which  a  single  spring  serves  to  deliver  the  blow 
of  the  hammer  and  also  withdraws  the  hammer  from  the  firing  pin.  A 
marked  tendency  in  shot  guns  in  late  years  is  toward  a  reduction  in  bore, 
many  sportsmen  now  using  a  28  gauge  in  preference  to  the  old  regulation 
12. 

Nearly  5,000  patents  have  been  granted  in  the  United  States  for  fire- 


FIG.   282.— THE  GREENER   HAMMERLESS  GUN. 

arms,  and  about  2,400  for  projectiles.  The  most  important  of  the  latter 
is  the  torpedo,  of  which  the  Whitehead,  or  fish  torpedo,  which  supplies 
its  own  means  of  propulsion,  is  the  best  known  and  most  used.  It  was 
first  brought  out  in  1866  by  Whitehead,  at  Fiume,  a  port  of  Hungary. 
The  Gathmann  aerial  torpedo,  weighing  1,800  pounds  and  carrying  625 
pounds  of  wet  gun  cotton,  is  designed  to  be  fired  from  a  gun  44  feet  long 
and  18  inch  bore,  and  is  supposed  to  have  a  range  of  ten  miles.  Tests 
are  about  to  be  made  under  special  appropriation  of  Congress,  and  if  its 
claim  can  be  substantiated,  it  may  become  the  most  destructive  engine  of 
warfare  known. 

Explosives.— The  invention  of  gunpowder  is  ascribed  to  the  Chinese, 


416  THE  PROGRESS   OF   INTENTION 

and  at  a  period  so  far  back  that  its  origin  is  buried  in  antiquity.  It  is 
believed  to  have  been  known  since  the  time  of  Moses,  something  very  like 
it  being  mentioned  in  the  ancient  Gentoo  laws  of  India  1,500  to  2,000 
B.  C.  For  many  years  it  was  thought  that  Roger  Bacon  invented  it  in 
1249,  but  it  is  now  known  that  he  was  only  a  factor  in  its  development. 
Most  likely  the  saltpetre  of  the  plains  of  China  came  first  in  accidental 
contact  with  the  charred  embers  of  a  prehistoric  fire,  and  to  the  observant 
man  the  oxygen-giving  saltpetre  furnished  the  charcoal  with  its  means  of 
energetic  combustion  for  the  first  time. 

Gunpowder  consists  of  about  75  parts  of  saltpetre  (nitrate  of  potash), 
15  of  charcoal,  and  10  of  sulphur,  the  proportions  varying  somewhat  with 
the  use  to  which  it  is  to  be  applied.  In  ordinary  combustion  the  air  sup- 
plies the  necessary  oxygen.  In  gunpowder  the  presence  of  the  air  is 
not  necessary,  as  the  saltpetre  has  imprisoned  in  its  composition  a  large 
quantity  of  oxygen  which  furnishes  to  the  carbon  and  sulphur  the  means 
for  its  combustion,  gasification  and  enormous  expansion.  Originally, 
gunpowder  was  pulvurulent,  like  that  used  in  fire  works,  and  had  but 
little  propelling  force.  The  making  of  it  in  grains  ("corned")  is  ascribed 
to  Berthold  Schwarz,  a  German  monk,  about  1320,  and  this,  by  promoting 
the  rapidity  of  its  burning,  added  greatly  to  its  effective  force,  and  gave 
a  new  impetus  to  firearms. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  there  were  but  few  im- 
provements in  either  the  composition  or  manufacture  of  gunpowder. 
The  introduction  of  the  percussion  cap,  which  exploded  the  charge  by 
a  blow,  in  the  place  of  the  old  flint  lock,  was,  however,  a  notable  advance. 
Alexander  John  Forsyth,  a  Scotch  clergyman,  was  the  first  to  apply  a 
percussion  or  detonating  compound,  as  set  forth  in  his  British  patent  No. 
3,032,  of  1807.  The  embodiment  of  such  compounds  in  the  little  copper 
caps  was  made  about  1818,  and  has  been  claimed  by  various  parties. 
Manton's  British  patent  No.  4,285,  of  1818,  describes  a  thin  copper 
tube  filled  with  fulminate  and  struck  sidewise  by  the  hammer  to  explode 
it.  Joshua  Shaw  took  a  United  States  patent  on  a  percussion  gun,  June 
19,  1822,  and  the  copper  percussion  cap  was  said  to  have  been  introduced 
in  the  United  States  by  him  in  1842.  The  embodiment  of  the  charge 
«  of  powder  and  ball  in  brass  and  copper  shells  was  done  in  France  by 
Galay  Cazalat  as  early  as  1826.  Drawn  metallic  shells  were  made  by 
Flobert  and  Lefaucheux,  in  1853,  ar>d  Palmer,  in  1854.  Drawn  copper 
cartridges  with  center  fire  were  introduced  in  the  United  States,  and 
patented  by  Smith  &  Wesson  August  8,  1854,  No.  11,496,  and  solid 
headed  shells  by  Hotchkiss,  August  31,  1869,  No.  94,210. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


In  1846  a  new  and  distinct  development  in  explosives  was  made  in 
the  discovery  of  gun  cotton  by  Schonbein,  and  of  nitro.-glycerine  in  1847 
by  Sobrero.  The  former  is  made  by  the  reaction  of  nitric  acid,  aided  by 
sulphuric  acid,  on  ordinary  raw  cotton,  which,  while  changing  the  physical 
aspects  of  the  cotton  but  little,  gives  to  it  a  terrific  explosive  energy. 
Nitro-glycerine  is  made  in  a  somewhat  similar  way  by  treating  glycerine 
with  nitric  and  sulphuric  acids.  At  first  it  found  no  practical  applications, 
except  as  a  homoeopathic  medicine  for  headache,  but  about  1864  Nobel 
commenced  its  manufacture  for  explosive  uses,  and  since  that  time  nearly 
all  the  great  blasting  operations  have  been  performed  through  its  agency. 
Its  most  familiar  form 
is  dynamite,  or  giant 
powder,  Nobel's  patent, 
No.  78,317,  May  26, 
1868,  which  is  simply 
nitro-glycerine  held  in 
absorption  by  some  in- 
ert granular  solid,  such 
as  infusorial  earth,  and 
is  thus  rendered  safer 
to  handle  and  more 
convenient  to  use.  A 
suggestive  application 
of  the  terrible  power  of 
these  explosives  is  in 
submarine  mines.  The 
instantaneous  and  das- 
tardly destruction  of  our  battleship,  "The  Maine,"  with  250  of  her 
crew,  in  Havana  harbor,  February  15,  1898,  by  one  of  these  agencies,  is 
a  harrowing  illustration.  Fig.  283  represents  one  of  these  submarine 
mines  carrying  250  pounds  of  dynamite,  and  Fig.  284  is  an  instantaneous 
photograph  at  the  moment  of  explosion. 

White  gunpozvder,  or  wood  powder,  was  invented  by  Captain  Schultz, 
of  the  Prussian  army.  It  is  made  by  treating  granulated  wood  with  a 
mixture  of  nitric  and  sulphuric  acids,  which,  acting  upon  the  cellulose 
of  the  wood,  convert  it  into  an  explosive  something  of  the  nature  of  gun 
cotton.  The  grains  are  afterward  saturated  with  saltpetre.  This  was 
patented  in  the  United  States  June  2,  1863,  No.  38,789,  and  in  Great 
Britain,  No.  900,  of  1864.  Dittmar's  powder  is  another  of  the  same  gen- 


FIG.   283. — SUBMARINE  MINE.      CHARGE,  250   POUNDS 
DYNAMITE. 


418  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


FIG.    284.— EXPLOSION    OF    A    MINE 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  419 

eral  nature,  covered  by  United  States  patents.   No.  98,854,  January  18, 
1870;  No.  99,069,  January  25,  1870,  and  No.  145,403,  December  9,  1873. 
Among  the  high  explosives  of  more  recent  date  may  be  mentioned : 

Tonitc  (gun  cotton  and  barium  nitrate),  British  patents  No.  3,612,  of 
1874,  and  No.  2,742,  of  1876. 

Rack-a-rock  (potassium  chlorate  and  nitro-benzene),  United  States  pat- 
ent No.  243,432,  June  28,  1881 ;  British  patent  No.  5,584,  of  1881. 

Bcllite  (ammonium  nitrate  and  nitro-benzene),  United  States  patent.  No. 
455,217,  June  30,  1891  ;  British  patent  No.  13,690,  of  1885. 

Melinite  (picric  acid  and  gun  cotton),  British  patent   No.  15,089,  of  1885. 

Lyddite,  not  patented,  but  believed  to  be  substantially  same  as  melinite, 
and  containing  for  its  active  ingredient  picric  acid,  which  is  a 
compound  formed  by  the  reaction  of  nitric  acid  on  carbolic  acid. 

Cordite  (nitro-glycerine,  gun  cotton,  and  mineral' jelly  or  oil),  British 
patent.  No.  5,614,  of  1889;  United  States  patent  No.  409,549, 
August  20,  1889. 

Indurite  (gun  cotton  and  nitro-benzene,  indurated),  United  States  patent, 
No.  489,684,  January  10,  1893 ;  British  patent,  No.  580,  of  1893. 

In  recent  years  smokeless  powders  have  largely  superseded  all  others. 
These  contain  usually  nitn>cellulose  (gun  cotton),  or  nitro-glycerine,  or 
both,  made  up  into  a  plastic,  coherent,  and  homogeneous  compound  of  a 
gluey  nature,  and  fashioned  into  horn-like  sticks  or  rods  by  being  forced 
under  pressure  through  a  die  plate  having  small  holes,  through  which  the 
plastic  material  is  strained  into  strings  like  macaroni,  or  else  is  molded 
into  tablets,  pellets,  or  grains  of  cubical  shape.  Prominent  among  those 
who  have  contributed  to  this  art  are  the  names  of  Turpin,  Abel  and 
Dewar,  Nobel,  Maxim,  Munroe,  Du  Pont,  Bernadou  and  others. 

In  the  recent  years  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  great  activity  has  been 
manifest  in  this  field  of  invention.  In  the  United  States  more  than  600 
different  patents  have  been  granted  for  explosives,  the  larger  portion  of 
them  being  for  nitro-compounds,  which  partake  in  a  greater  or  less  degree 
of  the  qualities  of  gun  cotton  or  nitro-glycerine.  The  influence  exerted 
by  them  has  been  incalculable.  Subtile  as  is  the  force  imprisoned  in  inter- 
atomic relation,  it  has  been  the  power  behind  the  boom  of  the  cannon :  it 
has  lent  itself  to  the  driving  of  great  tunnels  through  the  solid  rock ;  it  has 
lifted  the  coal  and  ore  from  the  solid  embrace  of  the  mountain,  and  the 
building  stone  from  its  sleep  in  the  quarry;  it  has  opened  up  channels  to 
the  sea,  canals  on  land,  and  in  both  war  and  peace  has  been  one  of  the 
great  agencies  of  civilization. 


420  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 
TEXTILES. 

SPINNING  AND  WEAVING  AN  ANCIENT  ART — HARGREAVES'  SPINNING  JENNY — ARK- 
WRIGHT'S  ROLL-DRAWING  SPINNING  MACHINE — CROMPTON'S  MULE  SPINNER— 
THE  COTTON  GIN — RING  SPINNING — THE  RABBETH  SPINDLE — JOHN  KAY'S  FLY- 
ING SHUTTLE  AND  ROBERT  KAY'S  DROP  Box — CARTWRIGHT'S  POWER  LOOM — THE 
JACQUARD  LOOM — CROMPTON'S  FANCY  LOOM — BIGELOW'S  CARPET  LOOMS — LYALL 
POSITIVE  MOTION  LOOM — KNITTING  MACHINES — CLOTH  PRESSING  MACHINERY — 
ARTIFICIAL  SILK — MERCERIZED  CLOTH. 

FAR  back  in  the  obscuring  gloom  of  a  prehistoric  antiquity, 
man  wore  probably  only  the  hirsute  covering  which  na- 
ture gave  him.  As  he  emerged  from  barbarism,  senti- 
ments of  modesty  marked  the  evolution  of  his  mind, 
and  this,  together  with  the  need  for  a  more  sufficient  protection 
against  cold  and  heat,  suggested  an  artificial  covering  for  his  body. 
At  first  he  robbed  the  brute  of  his  fleecy  skin  and  wore  it  bodily. 
Later  he  learned  to  spin  and  weave;  next  to  food  and  drink,  clothing 
became  a  fundamental  necessity,  for  without  it  his  life  could  not  extend 
outside  of  the  limited  zone  of  the  tropics.  Food  and  drink  were  to  be 
found  as  nature's  free  gifts,  but  clothing  had  to  be  made,  and  its  manu- 
facture constituted  probably  the  oldest  of  all  the  living  arts.  The  making 
of  cloth  may  be  said  to  be  coeval  with  history.  The  Old  Testament  of  the 
Bible  is  replete  with  references  to  spinning  and  weaving,  and  the  cloths 
wrapped  about  the  mummies  of  ancient  Egypt,  although  thousands  of 
years  old,  were  of  exceeding  regularity  and  fineness. 

So  old  an  art,  and  so  great  and  continuous  a  need  for  its  products 
necessarily  must  have  resulted  in  much  development  and  progress.  When 
the  Nineteenth  Century  began,  the  world  already  enjoyed  the  results  of 
Hargreaves'  spinning-jenny,  Arkwright's  roll-drawing  spinning  machine, 
the  mule  spinner,  the  cotton  gin,  and  the  power  loom,  all  of  which  were 
most  radical  inventions,  equaling  in  importance,  perhaps,  any  that  have 
followed. 

Prior  to  the  invention  of  the  spinning- jenny,  the  loose  fibre  was  spun 
into  yarns  and  thread  by  hand  on  the  old-fashioned  spinning  wheel,  each 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


421 


thread  requiring  the  attention  of  one  person.  In  1763  Hargreaves  in- 
vented the  spinning-jenny  (see  Fig.  285),  in  which  a  multiplicity  of  spin- 
dles was  employed,  whereby  one  person  could  attend  to  the  making  of 
many  threads  simultaneously.  For  this  purpose  the  spindles  were  set 
upright  at  the  end  of  the  frame,  and  the  rovings  or  strips  of  untwisted 
fibre  were  carried  on  bobbins  on  the  inclined  frame.  The  rovings  ex- 
tended from  these  bobbins  to  a  reciprocating  "clasp"  held  in  the  left 
hand  of  the  workman,  and  thence  extended  to  the  spindles  at  the  end  of 
the  frame.  The  workman  drew  out  the  rovings  by  moving  the  clasp 


FIG.  285.— HARGREAVES'  SPINNING  JENNY. 

back  and  forth,  and  at  the  same  time  turned  the  crank  with  his  right 
hand  to  rotate  the  spindles.  Hargreaves'  machine  is  shown  and  described 
in  his  British  patent,  No.  962  of  1770. 

The  next  important  step  in  spinning  was  the  introduction  of  drawing 
rolls,  which  were  a  series  of  rolls  running  at  different  speeds  for  drawing 
out  or  elongating  the  roving  as  it  was  spun  into  a  thread.  This  was 
mainly  due  to  Arkwright,  a  contemporary  of  Hargreaves.  The  principle 
of  the  drawing  rolls  had  been  foreshadowed  in  the  British  patents  of 
Louis  Paul,  No.  562,  of  1738,  and  No.  724,  of  1758,  but  Arkwright  made 


422 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


the  first  embodiment  of  it  in  practically  useful  machines,  which  were 
covered  by  him  in  British  patents  No.  931,  of  1769,  and  No.  1,111,  of 
1775.  Arkwright's  spinning  machine  is  shown  in  Fig.  286,  the  drawing 
rolls  being  shown  at  the  top  of  the  figure. 

Following  these  important  inventions  came  the  mule  spinner.  This 
was  invented  by  Crompton  between  1774  and  1779,  but  was  never  pat- 
ented. It  combined  the  leading 
features  of  Hargreaves  and  Ark- 
wright.  The  spindles  were 
mounted  on  a  wheeled  carriage 
that  traveled  back  and  forth 
a  considerable  distance  from  the 
drawing  rolls,  which  were 
mounted  in  bearings  in  a  station- 
ary frame.  The  long  travel  of 
the  carriage  back  and  forth,  and 
the  simultaneous  twisting  and 
drawing  of  the  yarns,  produced 
threads  of  great  fineness  and 
regularity.  The  value  of  the 
long  travel  of  the  carriage  may 
be  briefly  noted  as  follows : 
When  the  threads  or  slivers 
emerge  from  the  drawing  rolls 
they  are  not  absolutely  of  uni- 
form size,  and  the  thick  portions 
do  not  twist  as  tightly  as  the 
thinner  portions.  The  stretch- 
ing and  drawing  of  these  thicker 
parts  down  to  a  uniform  size  by 
the  receding  of  the  carriage  is 
the  distinctive  feature  of  its 

action.  As  the  thread  has  greater  tensile  strength  at  the  thinner  hard- 
twisted  parts  than  it  has  at  the  thicker  untwisted  parts,  it  will  be  seen  that 
the  stretching  action  is  localized  on  the  thicker  untwisted  parts  of  the 
thread,  which  are  thus  brought  down  to  uniform  size  by  elongation.  The 
drawing  and  twisting  of  the  thread  is  effected  as  the  carriage  runs  out, 
and  when  the  carriage  runs  in  these  twisted  lengths  are  wound  around  the 
spindles.  The  rendering  of  the  action  of  the  mule  automatic  or  self-acting 
in  its  travel  back  and  forth  was  the  invention  of  Richard  Roberts,  of  Eng- 


FIG.  286. — ARKWRIGHT'S  ROLL-DRAWING 

SPINNING   MACHINE. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


423 


land,  and  was  covered  by  him  in  British  patents  No.  5,138  of  1825,  and 
No.  5,649  of  1830.  The  mule  spinner  shown  in  Fig.  287  is  a  good  modern 
example  of  this  machine. 

One  of  the  most  important  of  the  early  inventions  in  the  textile  art  was 
the  cotton  gin.  This  was  the  invention  of  Eli  Whitney,  of  Massachusetts, 
and  was  patented  by  him  March  14,  1794.  Prior  to  its  use  the  picking  of 
the  cotton  fibre  from  the  bean-like  seed  with  which  it  is  compactly  stored 
in  the  boll  was  entirely  effected  by  hand,  and  it  was  a  slow  and  tedious 


FIG.    287. —  MULE    SPINNING    MACHINE. 

process,  and  about  4  pounds  per  day  was  the  average  work  of  one  man. 
The  cotton  gin,  shown  in  Fig.  288,  is  a  device  for  doing  this  by  machinery 
in  a  rapid,  thorough,  and  expeditious  manner.  The  cotton,  mixed  with  seed, 
is  fed  to  the  roll  box  J,  in  which  a  sort  of  reel  F  continually  turns  the  cotton. 
The  bottom  of  the  roll  box  is  formed  with  a  grating  of  parallel  ribs  E,  be- 
tween which  project  the  teeth  of  a  gang  of  circular  saws  C,  which  pull  the 
fibre  through  between  the  ribs  and  deliver  it  to  the  revolving  brush  B, 
which  beats  the  fibre  off  the  teeth  of  the  saws  and  produces  a  blast  that 
discharges  the  fleece  through  the  rear  of  the  gin.  The  cotton  seed,  which 


424 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


are  too  large  to  pass  between  the  ribs  with  the  fibre,  drop  out  the  bottom 
of  the  roll-box.  With  the  aid  of  the  cotton  gin  the  efficiency  of  one  man  is 
raised  from  four  pounds  per  day  to  several  thousand  pounds  per  day,  and 
the  culture  and  manufacture  of  cotton  fibre  was  revolutionized  and  greatly 
stimulated  by  providing  a  mode  of  putting  it  into  merchantable  condition 
at  a  reasonable  price.  It  is  said  that  the  crop  of  cotton  increased  from 


FIG.   288. — COTTON    GIN. 

189,316  pounds  in  1791  to  2,000,000,000  pounds  in  1859.  The  cotton  gin, 
as  invented  by  Whitney  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago,  is  still  in  use,  sub- 
stantially unchanged  in  principle,  but  its  efficiency  has  been  raised  from  70 
pounds  per  day  to  several  thousands.  The  cotton  crop  of  the  United 
States  for  1899,  which  was  handled  by  the  modern  gins  at  this  rate, 
amounted  to  11,274,840  bales,  of  about  500  pounds  each,  or  more  than  five 
thousand  million  pounds.  But  for  the  cotton  gin  this  great  staple  would 
have  only  a  very  limited  use,  and  one  of  the  greatest  of  the  world's  indus- 
tries would  have  practically  no  existence. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


425 


A  modern  step  of  importance  in  spinning  was  the  ring  frame.  Ring 
spinning  was  invented  by  John  Thorp,  of  Rhode  Island,  who  took  out  two 
patents  for  the  same  November  20,  1828.  The  leading  feature  of  the  ring 
frame  is  the  substitution  of  a  light  steel  hoop  or  traveler  running  upon 
the  upper  edge  of  a  ring  surrounding  the  spindle  in  lieu  of  the  flyer  for- 
merly employed.  The  thread  passes  through  the  hoop  as  it  is  wound  upon 
the  spindle.  In  modern  times  ring  spinning  has  attained  considerable  pro- 
portions, especially  in  cotton  manufactures. 

Nearly  3,000  United  States  patents  have  been  granted  in  the  class  of 
spinning,  and  many  valuable  improvements  in  the  details  of 
construction  in  spinning  machinery  have  been  made  in  recent 
years.  The  most  important,  perhaps,  are  those  relating  to 
spindle  structure,  whereby  the  speed  and  efficiency  of  spin- 
ning machines  have  been  greatly  increased.  Prior  to  1878  the 
speed  of  the  average  spindle  was  limited  to  5,000  revolutions 
a  minute.  In  1878  improvements  were  made  which  doubled 
its  working  speed  and  permitted  as  high  as  20,000  revolutions 
a  minute.  This  result  was  accomplished  by  making  a  yielding 
bolster.  The  bolster  is  an  upright  sleeve  bearing,  in  which 
the  spindle  revolves,  and  against  which  is  sustained  the  pull 
of  the  band  that  drives  the  spindle.  By  making  this  bolster  or 
sleeve  bearing  to  yield  laterally  by  means  of  an  elastic  packing 
which  surrounds  it,  a  much  greater  freedom  and  speed  of  rev- 
olution were  obtained.  The  preliminary  step  in  this  direction 
was  made  by  Birkenhead  in  patent  No.  205,718,  July  9,  1878. 
In  the  same  year  this  idea  was  perfected  by  Rabbeth.  The 
bolster  was  placed  loosely  in  a  bolster  case  of  slightly  larger 
diameter  than  the  bolster,  and  the  bottom  of  the  spindle  had  a 
free  lateral  movement  as  well  as  the  top,  as  shown  in  his  pat- 
ent No.  227,129,  May  4,  1880.  With  such  perfect  freedom  of 
movement,  the  spindle  at  high  speed  could  find  its  own  center 
of  revolution,  and  an  indefinitely  high  speed  and  quadrupled 
effciency  were  attained.  The  Draper  Spindle  is^shown  in  Fig.  MODERN 
289  as  one  of  the  most  modern  and  representative  of  spinning  SPINDLE. 
spindles.  Considering  the  great  speed  of  the  modern  spindle 
and  the  fact  that  a  single  workman  attends  a  thousand  or  more  of  them, 
the  record  of  progress  in  this  art  becomes  impressive.  In  1805  there  were 
only  4,500  cotton  spindles  at  work  in  the  United  States.  In  1899  there 
were  18,100,000. 

Weaving. — A  woven  fabric  consists  of  threads  which  run  lengthwise, 


1ml 


426  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

called  the  "warp,"  crossed  by  threads  running  transversely,  called  the 
"woof,"  "weft,"  or  "filling,"  which  latter  are  imprisoned  or  locked  in  by 
the  warp.  In  a  simple  loom  the  warp  threads  are  divided  into  two  groups, 
the  threads  of  one  group  alternating  with  those  of  the  other,  and  means 
are  provided  for  separating  these  groups  to  form  a  wedge-shaped  space 
between  them  called  a  "shed."  Through  this  shed  the  shuttle  which 
carries  the  woof  or  filling  thread  is  sent  crosswise  the  warp  threads. 
Means  are  provided  for  changing  the  inclination  and  position  of  the  two 
groups  of  warp  threads  in  relation  to  each  other,  so  as  to  lock  in  the 
filling,  and  put  the  warp  threads  in  position  to  receive  the  next  filling 
thread.  For  this  purpose  the  warp  threads,  usually  horizontal,  are  each 
passed  through  a  loop,  and  every  alternate  loop  is  attached  to  a  frame 
called  a  "heddle."  The  intervening  loops  and  threads  are  attached  to 
another  frame  or  "heddle,"  and  the  two  heddles  by  being  worked,  one  up 
and  the  other  down,  separate  the  warp  threads  to  form  the  shed.  For- 
merly the  shuttle  was  thrown  by  hand  through  the  shed.  In  1733  John 
Kay,  of  England,  took  out  British  patent  No.  542,  for  the  flying  shuttle 
and  picking  stick,  by  which  the  shuttle  was  struck  a  hammer-like  blow 
and  driven  like  a  ball  from  a  bat  across  the  warp,  and  was  struck  by  a 
similar  stick  on  the  other  side,  to  be  returned  in  the  same  way.  This  gave 
a  much  more  rapid  action  than  could  be  obtained  by  hand-throwing,  and 
enabled  one  weaver  to  do  the  work  of  two  or  three.  In  1760  Robert  Kay 
invented  the  drop  box,  by  which  different  shuttles  carrying  different  colors 
of  thread  were  employed. 

The  power  loom,  however,  marked  the  first  great  growth  in  the  art 
of  weaving.  The  enormously  increased  quantity  of  cotton  spun  by  Ark- 
wright's  machinery  made  a  demand  for  increased  facilities  for  weaving 
it  into  cloth.  Dr.  Cartwright,  of  England,  foresaw  and  met  this  demand 
in  his  power  loom,  in  which  all  of  the  intricate  operations  were  per- 
formed by  power-driven  machinery.  His  invention  was  not  extensively 
introduced  until  about  the  beginning  of  the  Nineteenth  Century.  One 
difficulty  experienced  was  that  the  warp  threads,  from  their  fuzzy  nature, 
had  to  be  dressed  with  size,  and  this  required  the  loom  to  be  stopped  from 
time  to  time,  and  necessitated  the  services  of  a  man  to  dress  or  size  the 
warp  threads.  This  difficulty  was  overcome,  however,  by  Johnson  & 
Radcliffe,  about  1803,  by  the  sizing  and  dressing  of  the  yarns  by  passing 
them  between  rollers  and  coating  them  with  a  thin  layer  of  paste  before 
being  put  into  the  loom.  Dr.  Cartwright  was  granted  British  patents  No. 
1,470,  of  1785;  No.  1,565,  of  1786;  No.  1,616,  of  1787,  and  No.  1,676,  of 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


427 


1788,  but  being  unable  to  maintain  any  monopoly  under  his  patents  he 
was  compensated  by  Parliament  with  a  grant  of  £10,000. 

Jacquard  Loom. — This  most  notable  step  in  the  art  of  weaving  was 


FIG.    290 MODERN   JACQUARD   LOOM. 


made  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  Nineteenth  Century.     It  enabled  all 
kinds  of  fabrics,  from  the  finest  to  the  coarsest,  to  be  cheaply  woven  into 


428  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INDENTION 

patterns  having  figured  or  ornamental  designs.  Jacquard,  a  •  native  of 
Lyons,  conceived  the  plan  of  his  great  invention  in  the  last  decade  of  the 
Eighteenth  Century,  and  on  December  28,  1801,  took  out  French  patent 
No.  245,  on  the  same.  His  invention  was  not,  in  fact,  a  new  form  of 
loom,  but  rather  an  attachment  to  a  loom  which  was  universally  applica- 
ble to  all  looms.  Before  his  invention,  figured  patterns  of  cloth  could  only 
be  made  by  slow  and  laborious  processes.  Jacquard's  invention  con- 
sisted in  individualizing  and  differentiating  the  movement  of  the  warp 
threads,  instead  of  operating  them  in  constant  groups.  This  individual- 
izing of  the  movement  of  the  warp  threads  allowed  any  warp  thread  to 
be  held  up  automatically  any  length  of  time,  or  let  down,  according  as 
was  necessary  to  form  the  figure  of  the  pattern.  This  was  accomplished 
by  making  a  chain  of  articulated  cards,  like  a  slatted  belt,  and  perforating 
these  cards  with  varying  arrangements  of  holes.  The  cards  were  suc- 
cessively and  intermittently  fed  to  a  set  of  needles,  which  latter,  by  rising 
and  falling,  raise  or  lower  the  warp  threads  attached  to  the  same.  By 
perforating  these  cards  differently,  and  arranging  them  so  that  when 
one  card  was  brought  in  front  of  the  needles  it  would  let  certain  needles 
through  the  perforations  and  hold  the  others  back,  it  will  be  seen  that 
each  card  controlled  the  action  of  a  different  set  of  needles,  and  the 
sequence  of  the  series  of  cards  effected  the  necessary  change  in  the  needles 
and  movement  of  the  warp  threads  to  form  the  growth  of  the  figure  in 
the  fabric. 

In  Fig.  290  is  seen  a  modern  form  of  Jacquard  loom,  showing  at 
the  far  end  the  chain  of  perforated  cards.  Jacquard  received  a  bronze 
medal  at  the  French  Exposition  in  1801,  was  decorated  with  the  Cross  of 
the  Legion  of  Honor,  and  the  gratitude  of  his  countrymen  was  attested 
by  a  pension  of  6,000  francs,  and  a  statue  erected  to  his  memory  at  Lyons 
in  1840. 

Subsequent  improvements  and  developments  of  the  Jacquard  loom 
have  carried  its  work  to  great  nicety  and  refinement  of  action.  In  the 
chain  of  pattern  cards  it  is  said  that  as  many  as  25,000  separately  punched 
cards  or  plates  are  sometimes  used  in  weaving  a  single  yard  of  brocade. 
The  great  variety  of  elaborate  designs  of  delicate  tracery  in  silk,  rich 
patterns  in  brocades,  and  gorgeous  figures  in  carpets,  attest  the  value  of 
Jacquard's  important  step  in  this  art. 

Nearly  5,000  United  States  patents  have  been  granted  in  the  class  01 
weaving.  In  the  early  part  of  the  century  much  notable  work  was  done. 
Steam  was  applied  to  looms  by  William  Horrocks  (British  patent  No. 
2,699,  °f  1803).  From  1830  to  1842  there  were  brought  out  the  fancy 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  429 

looms  of  Crompton,  the  application  of  the  Jacquard  mechanism  to  the 
lace  frame  by  Draper,  and  the  carpet  looms  of  Bigelow.  -In  1853  Bonelli 
sought  to  improve  on  the  Jacquard  mechanism  by  employing  electro- 
magnets to  effect  the  selection  of  the  needles,  instead  of  perforated  cards 
(British  patent  Xo.  1,892,  of  1853). 

Among  more  recent  developments  is  the  Positive  Motion  loom  of 
Lyall,  patented  December  10,  1872,  No.  133,868,  re-issue  No.  9,049, 
January  20,  1880.  The  distinguishing  feature  of  this  is  that  the  shuttle 
is  not  thrown  or  impelled  as  a  projectile  through  the  wedge-shaped  space 
(shed),  between  the  two  sets  of  warp  threads,  but  is  positively  dragged 
back  and  forth  through  the  same  by  an  endless  belt  attached  to  the  shuttle 


FIG.   29! CROMPTON    FANCY   LOOM. 

carriage  and  running  first  in  one  direction  and  then  in  the  other  to  drag 
the  shuttle  through. 

It  is  not  to  be  understood  that  the  positive  motion  loom  has  superseded 
the  flying  shuttle.  The  latter  is  still  the  leading  type,  of  which  the 
Crompton  fancy  loom,  shown  in  Fig.  291,  is  a  representative  illustration. 

The  tendency  in  late  years  in  the  art  of  weaving  has  been  toward  labor- 
saving  devices,  a  reduction  in  the  cost  to  the  consumer  of  all  kinds  of 
textile  fabrics,  and  the  extension  of  the  loom  to  the  weaving  of  new  kinds 
of  materials.  Prominent  among  these  are  the  inventions  in  the  loom  for 
weaving  plain  fabrics  made  between  the  years  1881  and  1895,  shown  in 
patents  to  Northrop,  No.  454,810,  June  23,  1891 ;  No.  529,943,  November 
27,  1894,  and  Draper,  No.  536,948,  April  2,  1895.  This  loom,  as  usual, 
employs  a  single  shuttle,  but  as  the  weft  becomes  exhausted  another 


430  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

bobbin  is  automatically  supplied  to  the  shuttle  without  stopping  the  opera- 
tion of  the  machine.  During  the  year  1895  the  first  loom  for  weaving  an 
open  mesh  cane  fabric  having  diagonal  strands  was  invented.  Patents 
to  Morris,  No.  549,930,  and  to  Crompton,  No.  550,068,  November  19, 
1895,  were  obtained  for  this.  Prior  to  this  time  two  distinct  machines 
were  necessary  to  produce  this  fabric,  and  the  operation  was  slow  and 
expensive.  Between  1893  and  1895  two  machines  were  invented,  upon 
either  of  which  the  well-known  Turkish  carpets  can  be  woven.  Patents 
to  Youngjohns,  No.  510,755,  December  12,  1893,  and  to  Reinhart  von 
Seydlitz,  No.  533,330,  January  29,  1895,  disclose  this.  The  drawing  of 
warp  threads  into  the  eyes  of  the  heddles  and  through  the  reed  of  a  loom 
requires  great  skill,  and  prior  to  1880  was  performed  by  hand  at  great 
expense.  In  1882,  however,  a  machine  for  doing-  this  was  invented, 
thereby  dispensing  with  the  old  hand  method  and  cheapening  the  opera- 
tion. Patents  to  Sherman  and  Ingersoll,  No.  255,038,  March  14,  1882, 
and  Ingersoll,  No.  461,613,  October  20,  1891,  were  granted  for  this 
machine. 

To-day  the  shuttle  flies  at  the  rate  of  180  to  250  strokes  a  minute,  and 
yet  the  complex  organization  of  the  machine  works  with  an  energy,  a 
uniformity,  an  accuracy  and  a  continuity  that  leaves  far  behind  the 
strength  of  the  arm,  the  memory  of  mind,  and  the  accuracy  of  the  human 
eye,  and  yet,  if  the  tiny  thread  breaks,  the  whole  organization  instantly 
stops  and  patiently  waits  the  remedial  care  of  its  watchful  master. 

Knitting  Machines. — Knitting  differs  from  weaving,  braiding,  or 
plaiting  in  the  following  respects :  In  weaving  there  are  longitudinal 
threads  called  warp  threads,  which  are  crossed  on  a  separate  weft  or 
filling  thread.  In  braiding  or  plaiting  all  the  threads  may  be  considered 
warp  threads,  since  they  are  arranged  to  run  longitudinally,  and  instead 
of  locking  around  a  separate  transverse  thread  at  right  angles,  they  ex- 
tend diagonally  and  are  interwoven  with  each  other.  In  netting  and 
knitting,  however,  there  is  but  a  single  thread,  which,  in  netting,  is 
knotted  into  itself  at  definite  intervals  to  leave  a  mesh  of  definite  size, 
while  in  knitting  the  single  thread  is  merely  looped  into  itself  without  any 
definite  mesh.  Knitted  goods  have  the  peculiarity  of  great  elasticity  in 
consequence  of  this  formation  of  the  fabric,  and  for  that  reason  find  a 
special  application  in  all  garments  which  are  required  to  snugly  conform 
to  irregular  outlines,  such  as  stockings  for  the  feet,  gloves  for  the  hands, 
and  underwear  for  the  body. 

Weaving,  braiding,  and  netting  are  very  old  arts,  but  the  art  of  knit- 
ting is  comparatively  modern.  It  is  believed  to  have  originated  about 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  431 

the  year  1500  in  Scotland.  In  1589  William  Lee,  of  England,  is  credited 
with  making  the  first  knitting  machine.  It  is  said  that  the  girl  with  whom 
he  was  in  love,  and  to  whom  he  was  paying  his  attention,  was  so  busy 
with  her  work  of  hand  knitting  that  she  could  not  give  him  the  requisite 


FIG.  2Q2.— BRANSON   15-16  AUTOMATIC  KNITTER. 

attention,  and  he  invented  the  knitting  machine  that  they  might  have 
more  time  to  devote  to  their  love  affairs.  Another  version  is  that  he 
married  the  girl  and  invented  the  machine  to  relieve  her  weary  fingers 
from  the  work  of  the  knitting  needle,  and  still  another  is  that  the  machine 
was  the  leading  object  of  his  affections,  to  the  neglect  of  his  sweetheart, 
who  "gave  him  the  mitten"  before  he  had  knitted  one  on  his  machines. 


432  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INDENTION 

The  earliest  circular  knitting  machine  was  by  Brunei,  described  In 
British  patent  No.  3,993,  of  1816.  Power  was  applied  to  the  knitting 
frame  by  Bailey  in  1831,  and  the  latch  needle  was  patented  in  the  United 
States  by  Hibbert,  January  9,  1849,  No.  6,025.  This  patent  was  extended 
for  seven  years  from  January  9,  1863,  and  covered  a  very  important 
and  universally  used  feature  of  the  knitting  machine.  Research  has 
shown,  however,  that  the  latch  was  not  broadly  new  with  Hibbert,  as  it 
appeared  in  the  French  patent  to  Jeandeau,  No.  1,900,  of  April  25,  1806. 
Among  the  earlier  knitting  machines,  the  straight  reciprocating  type  was 
most  in  evidence,  and  of  which  the  Lamb  machine  was  a  popular  form. 
The  increased  speed  and  capacity  of  the  circular  machine  have,  however, 
caused  it  to  largely  supersede  the  others.  In  the  circular  machine  a  circu- 
lar series  of  vertical  parallel  needles  slide  in  grooves  in  a  cylinder,  and 
are  raised  and  lowered  successively  by  an  external  rotating  cylinder 
which  has  on  the  inner  side  cams  that  act  upon  the  needles.  The  Branson 
15-16  Automatic  Knitter,  shown  in  Fig.  292,  is  a  good  modern  illustration. 
It  performs  automatically  fifteen-sixteenths  of  the  various  movements 
which  ordinarily  would  be  performed  by  hand  on  a  hand  machine.  Its 
salient  features  are  covered  by  patents  No.  333,102,  December  29,  1885, 
and  No.  519,170,  May  i,  1894.  About  2,000  United  States  patents  have 
been  granted  in  the  class  of  knitting  and  netting,  and  the  value  of  hosiery 
and  knit  goods  in  the  United  States  in  1890  was  $67,241,013. 

An  important  branch  of  the  textile  art  is  cloth  finishing,  whereby  the 
rough  surface  of  the  cloth  r.5  it  comes  from  the  loom  is  rendered  soft  and 
smooth.  One  method  is  to  raise  the  nap  of  the  cloth  by  pulling  out  the 
fibre  by  a  multitude  of  fine  points.  Originally  this  was  done  by  combing 
it  with  teasles,  a  sort  of  dried  burr  of  vegetable  growth,  having  a  multi- 
tude of  fine  hook-shaped  points.  Machines  with  fine  metal  card  teeth  are 
now  largely  used  for  this  purpose,  and  of  which  the  planetary  napping 
machine  of  Ott,  patent  No.  344,981,  July  6,  1886,  is  an  example.  Another 
method  of  finishing  the  cloth  is  to  iron  or  press  it.  Plate  presses  were 
first  used  in  which  smooth  plates  were  folded  in  alternate  layers  with  the 
cloth  and  pressure  then  applied,  but  in  later  years  continuous  rotary 
presses  have  been  employed,  that  of  Gessner,  patent  No.  206,718,  August 
6,  1878,  re-issue  No.  9,076,  9,077,  February  17,  1880,  is  one  of  the  earliest 
examples  of  a  continuous  rotary  press.  The  old  Gessner  presses  of  Sax- 
ony were  the  pioneers  in  this  field.  A  modern  Gessner  cloth  press  is  seen 
in  Fig-.  293. 

In  the  field  of  textiles  there  are  many  related  arts  and  machines. 
There  are  hat  felting  and  finishing  machines,  darning  machines,  quilting 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


433 


machines,  embroidering  machines,  processes  and  apparatus  for  dyeing 
and  sizing,  machines  for  printing  fabrics,  machines  for  making  rope  and 
cord,  machines  for  winding  and  working  silk,  and  in  treating  the  raw 
material  there  are  cotton-pickers,  cotton  baling  presses,  cotton  openers 
and  cleaners,  flax  brakes  and  hackling  machines,  feeding  devices,  wool 
carding  and  cleaning  apparatus,  all  in  variety  and  numbers  that  defy  both 
comment  and  count. 

In  fabrics  every  class  of  fibre  has  been  called  into  requisition.     Flax, 


FIG.    2Q3 MODERN    "GESSNER"    CLOTH     PRESSING    MACHINE. 

wool,  silk,  and  cotton  have  been  supplemented  with  the  fibres  of  metal,  of 
glass,  of  cocoanut,  pine  needles,  ramie,  wood-pulp,  and  of  many  other 
plants,  leaves  and  grasses. 

Artificial  silk  is  made  out  of  a  chemically  prepared  composition,  and 
the  fibres  are  spun  by  processes  simulating  not  only  the  act  of  the  silk 
worm,  but  its  product  in  quality.  Vandura  silk  was  spun  from  an  aqueous 
solution  of  gelatine  by  forcing  it  through  a  fine  capillary  tube,  but  it  at- 
tained little  or  no  practical  value.  A  far  more  important  artificial  silk  is 


434  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

covered  by  the  patents  to  De  Chardonnet,  No.  394,559,  December  18, 
1888;  No.  460,629,  October  6,  1891,  and  No.  531,158,  December  18,  1894, 
and  also  in  subsequent  patents  to  Lehner  and  to  Turk.  These  all  relate  to 
the  manufacture  of  artificial  silk  by  spinning  threads  or  filaments  from 
pyroxiline  (solution  of  gun  cotton),  collodion,  or  some  such  glutinous 
solution  which  evaporates  rapidly,  leaving  a  tiny  thread,  having  most  of 
the  characteristics  of  silk  and  produced  by  the  same  method  employed 
by  the  silk  worm  when  it  expresses  and  draws  out  its  viscid  liquid.  The 
De  Chardonnet  artificial  silk  took  a  "Grand  Prix"  at  the  Paris  Exposi- 
tion in  1889,  and  the  industry  is  growing  to  considerable  proportions. 
Large  works  are  in  operation  at  Besan9on,  in  France,  producing  7,000 
pounds  per  week,  and  it  is  said  that  the  plant  is  to  be  increased  to  a 
capacity  of  2,000  pounds  a  day.  Similar  works  at  Avon,  near  Coventry, 
England,  have  an  equal  capacity,  and  other  factories  are  about  to  be  estab- 
lished in  Belgium  and  Germany. 

Polished  or  diamond  cotton  is  a  lustrous  looking  article  of  a  soft 
silky  nature,  formed  by  plating  the  threads  with  a  liquid  emulsion  of  a 
waxy  and  starchy  substance,  and  polishing  the  threads  with  rapidly  re- 
volving brushes. 

Mercerized  Cloth. — In  late  years  a  distinct  novelty  has  appeared  on 
the  shelves  of  the  dry  goods  stores.  Beautiful,  filmy  fabrics,  and  lustrous 
embroidery  thread,  not  of  silk,  but  so  close  to  it  in  appearance  as  to  be 
scarcely  distinguishable,  have  gained  much  popularity  and  attained  a 
large  sale.  They  are  known  as  mercerized  goods.  About  the  middle  of 
the  century  John  Mercer,  of  England,  found  that  when  cotton  goods 
were  treated  with  chemicals  (either  alkalies  or  acids),  a  change  was  pro- 
duced in  the  fibre  which  caused  it  to  shrink  and  become  thicker,  and 
which  imparted  also  an  increased  affinity  for  dyes.  He  took  out  British 
patent  No.  13,296,  of  1850,  for  his  invention,  but  practically  nothing 
further  was  done  with  the  process.  Recently  the  important  step  of 
Thomas  and  Prevost  of  mercerizing  under  tension  gave  some  new  and 
wonderful  results.  United  States  patents  No.  600,826  and  No.  600,827, 
of  May  15,  1898,  disclose  this  process.  The  cloth  or  thread,  while  being 
treated  chemically,  is  at  the  same  time  subjected  to  a  powerful  tension 
that  causes  the  fibres  (softened  and  rendered  glutinous  by  the  chemicals") 
to  be  elongated  or  pulled  out  like  fibres  of  molten  glass,  giving  it  the  same 
striated  texture  and  fine  luster  that  silk  has,  and  by  substantially  the 
same  mechanical  agency,  for  it  is  the  elongation  of  the  plastic  glutinous 
thread  from  the  silk  worm  that  gives  the  thread  its  silky  luster,  by  a 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  435 

process  which  has  a  familiar  illustration  in  the  molecular  adjustment  that 
imparts  luster  to  spun  glass  or  drawn  taffy. 

Standing  in  the  light  of  the  Twentieth  Century,  and  looking  back 
through  past  ages,  we  find  the  art  of  spinning  and  weaving  in  an  ever 
present  and  unbroken  thread  of  evidence  all  along  the  path  of  history — 
through  wars  and  famine,  floods  and  conflagrations ;  through  the  progress 
and  decay  of  nations,  through  all  phases  of  change,  and  the  vicissitudes 
of  centuries,  it  has  never  been  relegated  to  the  domain  of  the  lost,  arts, 
but  has  remained  a  persisting  invention.  It  has  been  a  paramount  ne- 
cessity to  the  human  race,  indissolubly  locked  up  with  its  continuity  and 
welfare,  and  will  ever  continue  to  supply  its  work  in  maintaining  the 
greater  fabric  of  human  existence. 


436  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 
ICE  MACHINES. 

GENERAL  PRINCIPLES — FREEZING  MIXTURES — PERKINS'  ICE  MACHINE,  1834 — PICTET'S 
APPARATUS — CARRE'S  AMMONIA  ABSORPTION  PROCESS — DIRECT  COMPRESSION  AND 
CAN  SYSTEM — THE  HOI.DEN  ICE  MACHINE — SKATING  RINKS — WINDHAUSEN'S 
APPARATUS  FOR  COOLING  AND  VENTILATING  SHIPS. 

VERY  few  people  have  any  correct  conception  of  the  principles  of 
ice-making.     Most  persons  have  heard  in  a  vague  sort  of  way 
that   chemicals   are   employed   in   its   manufacture,   and   many 
a  fastidious  individual  has  been  known  to  object  to  artificial 
ice  on  the  ground  that  he  could  taste  the  chemicals,  and  that  it  could 
not  therefore  be  wholesome.     Such  is  the  power  of  imagination,  and  such 
the  misconception  in  the  public  mind.     Nothing  could  be  more  erroneous, 
nor  more  amusing  to  the  physicist,  since  no  chemicals  ever  come  in  con- 
tact with  either  the  water  or  the  ice.    An  intelligent  understanding  of  the 
operations  of  an  ice  machine  involves  only  a  correct  appreciation  of  one 
of  the  physical  laws  governing  the  relation  of  heat  to  matter,  and  the 
forms  which  matter  assumes  under  different  degrees  of  heat.     We  see 
water  passing  from  solid  ice  to  liquid  water  and  gaseous  steam,  by  a  mere 
rise  in  temperature,  and  conversely,  by  abstraction  of  heat,  steam  passes 
back  to  water,  and  then  to  ice. 

When  one's  hands  get  wet  they  get  cold.  A  commonplace,  but  con- 
venient proof  of  this  is  to  wet  the  finger  in  the  mouth  and  hold  it  in  the 
air.  A  sensible  reduction  of  temperature  is  instantly  noticeable.  A  more 
pronounced  illustration  is  to  wet  the  hands  in  a  basin  of  water,  and  then 
plunge  them  in  the  blast  of  hot,  dry  air  coming  from  a  furnace  register. 
Instead  of  warming  the  hands,  as  many  would  suppose,  this  will,  as  long 
as  the  hands  are  wet,  produce  a  distinct  sensation  of  increased  cold.  It 
is  due  to  rapid  evaporation,  which  in  changing  the  water  from  a  liquid  to 
a  gaseous  form,  abstracts  heat  from  the  hands. 

Evaporation  may  be  effected  in  two  ways.  The  common  one  is  by 
applying  extraneous  heat,  as  under  a  tea  kettle,  in  which  case  the  evapo- 
rated vapor  is  hot  by  virtue  of  the  heat  absorbed  from  the  fire.  The 
other  way  is  to  reduce  pressure  or  produce  a  partial  vacuum  over  the 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  437 

liquid  without  any  application  of  heat,  in  which  case  the  vapor  is  made 
cold.  As  early  as  1755  Dr.  Cullen  observed  this,  and  discovered  that 
the  cold  thus  produced  was  sufficient  to  make  ice.  An  incident  of  evapo- 
ration is  the  passing  from  the  limited  volume  of  a  liquid  to  the  greatly 
increased  volume  of  a  gas.  Water,  for  instance,  when  it  changes  to  a 
vapor,  increases  in  volume  about  1,700  times;  that  is,  a  cubic  inch  of 
water  makes  about  a  cubic  foot  of  steam,  and  when  evaporation  takes 
place  from  a  reduction  of  pressure,  this  involves  a  dissipation  of  heat 
throughout  the  increased  volume,  and  the  corresponding  production  of 
cold.  When,  however,  matter  changes  from  a  liquid  to  a  gas,  or  from  a 
solid  to  a  liquid,  a  peculiar  phenomenon  manifests  itself,  in  that  a  great 
amount  of  heat  is  absorbed  and,  so  far  as  the  evidence  of  the  senses  goes, 
disappears  in  the  mere  change  of  state.  It  is  called  latent  heat.  In  such 
case  the  heat  becomes  hidden  from  the  senses  by  being  converted  into 
some  other  form  of  intermolecular  force  not  appreciable  as  sensible  heat, 
and  producing  no  elevation  of  temperature.  In  illustration,  if  a  pound 
of  water  at  212°  F.  be  mixed  with  a  pound  of  water  at  34°  (both  being 
matter  in  the  same  state),  there  results  two  pounds  of  water  at  the  mean 
temperature  of  123°.  If,  however,  a  pound  of  water  at  212°  be  mixed 
with  a  pound  of  ice  at  32°  (matter  in  another  state),  there  will  not  be 
two  pounds  of  water  at  the  mean  temperature  of  122°,  as  might  be 
expected,  but  two  pounds  at  51°  only,  an  amount  of  heat  sufficient  to 
raise  two  pounds  of  water  71°  being  absorbed  in  the  mere  change  of  ice 
to  water  without  any  sensible  raise  in  temperature.  This  absorbed  heat 
is  called  latent  heat,  and  it  plays  an  important  part  in  artificial  freezing. 
A  familiar  illustration  of  the  absorption  of  heat  in  changing  from  a 
solid  to  a  liquid  is  found  in  the  admixture  of  salt  and  ice  around  an  ice- 
cream freezer.  These  two  solids,  when  brought  together,  liquefy  rapidly 
with  an  absorption  of  heat  that  produces  in  a  limited  time  a  far  greater 
degree  of  cold  than  that  which  could  be  obtained  from  the  ice  by  mere 
conduction,  since  the  reduction  of  temperature  proceeds  faster  by  lique- 
faction than  can  be  compensated  for  by  the  absorption  of  heat  from  the 
air.  Were  this  not  true,  ice  cream  could  not  be  frozen  by  a  mixture  of 
salt  and  ice.  Many  such  freezing  mixtures  are  known,  and  a  few  have 
been  made  commercially  available,  but  they  cannot  be  economically  em- 
ployed in  ice-making,  and  it  is  therefore  only  necessary  to  consider  the 
development  of  the  more  common  principle  of  evaporation  and  expansion, 
in  which  the  change  from  a  liquid  to  a  gas  occurs.  The  volatile  liquid 
which  was  first  employed  was  water,  but  as  it  did  not  vaporize  as  readily 
as  some  other  liquids,  more  volatile  substitutes  were  soon  found,  among 


438 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


which  may  be  named  ether,  ammonia,  liquid  carbonic  acid,  liquid  sul- 
phurous acid,  bisulphide  of  carbon  and  chymogene,  which  latter  is  a 
petroleum  product  lighter  and  more  volatile  than  benzine  or  gasoline.  As 
these  liquids  were  expensive,  it  is  obvious  that  their  vaporization  could 
not  be  allowed  to  take  place  in  the  open  air,  since  the  reagent  would  thus 
be  quickly  dissipated  and  lost,  and  hence  means  were  devised  to  con- 


FIG.  294. — PERKINS'  ICE  MACHINE,  1834. 

dense  and  save  this  valuable  volatile  liquid  to  be  used  over  again.  The 
vaporization  of  the  volatile  liquid  to  produce  cold,  and  its  re-condensation 
to  liquid  form  to  be  used  over  again  in  an  endless  cycle  of  circulation, 
seems  to  have  been  first  effected  by  Mr.  Perkins,  of  England,  whose 
British  patent  No.  6,662,  of  1834,  affords  a  simple  and  clear  illustration 
of  the  fundamental  principles  of  most  modern  ice  machines.  His  ap- 
paratus is  shown  in  Fig.  294.  A  tank  a  is  filled  with  water  to  be  frozen 
or  cooled.  A  refrigerating  chamber  b,  submerged  in  the  water,  is  charged 
internally  with  some  volatile  liquid,  such  as  ether.  When  the  piston  of 
suction  pump  c  rises  a  partial  vacuum  is  formed  beneath  it,  and  the 
volatile  liquid  in  b  being  relieved  of  pressure,  evaporates  and  expands 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  439 

into  greater  volume,  the  vapor  passing  out  through  pipe  f  and  upwardly 
opening  valve  c.  This  vapor  is  rendered  intensely  cold  by  expansion, 
and  this  cold  is  imparted  to  the  water  in  tank  a  to  freeze  it.  A  more 
scientific  statement,  however,  is  that  the  cold,  vapor  absorbs  the  heat  units 
of  the  water,  and  taking  them  away  with  it,  lowers  the  temperature  of 
the  water  to  the  freezing  point.  When  the  piston  of  pump  c  descends, 
valve  e  closes,  and  the  vapor,  laden  with  the  heat  units  absorbed  from 
the  water,  is  forced  through  the  downwardly  opening  valve  e',  and 
through  pipe  g  to  a  cooling  coil  d,  around  which  a  body  of  cold  water 
is  continually  flowed.  This  water,  in  turn,  takes  the  heat  units  from  the 
vapor,  and  passes  off  with  them  in  a  constant  flow,  while  the  vapor  of 
ether  is  condensed  into  a  liquid  again  by  the  cold  water,  and  passing 
through  a  weighted  valve  h,  goes  into  the  evaporating  or  refrigerating 
chamber  to  be  again  vaporized  in  an  endless  circuit  of  flow.  It  will  be 
seen  that  the  heat  units  from  the  water  in  tank  a  are  first  handed  over  to 
the  cold  ether  vapors  passing  out  from  chamber  b,  and  by  this  vapor  are 
then  transferred  to  the  flowing  body  of  water  surrounding  the  coil  d. 
The  result  is  that  the  heat  units  carried  off  by  the  water  flowing  around 
coil  d  are  the  same  heat  units  abstracted  from  the  water  in  tank  a,  which 
water  is  thus  reduced  to  congealation. 

Among  later  ice  machines  of  this  type  the  Pictet  machine  was  a  con- 
spicuous example.  This  employed  anhydrous  sulphurous  acid  as  the 
volatile  agent,  and  is  described  in  United  States  patent  No.  187,413, 
February  13,  1877;  French  patent  No.  109,003,  of  1875. 

In  Fig.  295  is  represented  a  vertical  longitudinal  and  also  a  vertical 
transverse  section  of  a  Pictet  ice  machine.  A  is  a  double  acting  suction 
and  compression  pump,  D  and  E  are  two  cylinders  which  are  similarly 
constructed  in  the  respect  that  they  are  both  provided  with  flue  pipes  and 
heads  for  a  double  circulation  of  fluids,  one  fluid  passing  through  the 
pipes  while  the  other  passes  through  the  spaces  between  the  pipes,  much 
like  the  condenser  of  a  steam  engine.  The  cylinder  D  is  the  refrigerator 
where  the  volatile  liquid  is  evaporated  to  produce  cold,  and  the  cylinder  E 
is  the  condenser  where  the  gasified  vapor  is  cooled  and  condensed  again 
to  liquid  form  to  be  returned  to  the  refrigerator.  The  action  is  as  follows : 
The  pump  A  by  pipe  B  draws  from  the  chamber  in  the  refrigerator  D 
containing  the  volatile  liquid,  causing  it  to  evaporate  and  produce  an 
intense  degree  of  cold  which  is  imparted  to  the  liquid  surrounding  it  and 
filling  the  tank.  This  liquid  is  either  brine,  or  a  mixture  of  glycerine  and 
water,  or  a  solution  of  chloride  of  magnesium,  or  other  liquid  which  does 
not  freeze  at  a  temperature  considerably  below  the  freezing  point  of 


440 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


water.  Now,  this  non-congealable  liquid  being  below  the  freezing  point, 
it  will  be  seen  that  if  cans  H  be  filled  with  pure  water,  and  are  immersed 
in  this  intensely  cold  non-congealable  liquid,  the  water  in  the  cans  will 
freeze.  This  is  exactly  what  takes  place,  and  this  is  how  the  ice  is  formed. 
As  the  volatile  liquid  is  drawn  out  of  the  refrigerator  D  through  pipe  B 
by  the  pump  A  it  is  forced  by  the  pump  through  pipe  C  and  into  the 
chamber  of  the  condenser  E.  A  current  of  cold  water  is  kept  flowing 
around  the  pipes  in  E,  coming  in  through  a  pipe  at  one  end  and  passing 
out  through  a  pipe  at  the  other  end.  The  compressed  and  relatively  hot 
gases  are  by  the  contact  of  this  cold  water  along  the  sides  of  the  pipes 


FIG.  295. — THE  PICTET  ICE  MACHINE. 

cooled  and  condensed  into  a  liquid  again,  which  passes  up  the  small 
curved  pipe  F  and  is  returned  to  the  refrigerator  D,  to  be  again  evapo- 
rated by  the  suction  of  the  pump  to  continue  the  production  of  cold.  In 
large  plants  the  non-congealable  liquid  and  cans  of  water  to  be  frozen  are 
(in  order  to  get  larger  capacity)  carried  to  a  large  floor  tank  in  a  re- 
moved situation. 

One  of  the  earliest  methods  of  producing  ice  in  a  limited  quantity  was 
by  evaporating  water  by  a  reduction  of  pressure  and  causing  the  vapor 
to  be  absorbed  by  sulphuric  acid,  which  has  a  great  affinity  for  the  water 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  441 

vapor.  Mr.  Nairne,  in  1777,  was  the  first  to  discover  the  affinity  that 
sulphuric  acid  had  for  water  vapor,  and  in  1810  Leslie  froze  water  by 
this  means.  In  1824  Vallance  obtained  British  patents  No.  4,884  and 
5,001,  operating  on  this  principle,  in  which  leaden  balls  were  coated  with 
sulphuric  acid  to  increase  the  absorbing  surfaces,  and  which  apparatus 
was  effective  in  freezing  considerable  quantities  of  ice. 

The  carafes  frappees  of  the  Parisian  restaurant  were  decanters  in 
which  water  was  frozen  by  being  immersed  in  tanks  of  sea  water  whose 
temperature  was  reduced  below  freezing  by  the  vaporization  of  ether  in  a 
reservoir  immersed  in  the  sea  water.  Edmond  Carre's  method  of  pre- 
paring carafes  frappees  involved  the  use  of  the  sulphuric  acid  principle 
of  absorption,  and  to  that  end  the  aqueous  vapor  was  directly  exhausted 
from  the  decanter  by  a  pump,  and  the  said  vapor  was  absorbed  by  a  large 
volume  of  sulphuric  acid  so 'rapidly  as  to  freeze  the  water  remaining  in 
the  decanter. 

Probably  the  earliest  practical  ice  machine  to  be  organized  on  a  com- 
mercial basis  was  the  ammonia  absorption  machine  of  Ferdinand  Carre, 
which  was  a  continuously  working  machine.  It  is  disclosed  in  French 
patents  Nos.  81  and  404,  of  1860,  and  No.  75,702,  of  1867;  United  States 
patent  No.  30,201,  October  2,  1860.  In  this  case  advantage  is  taken 
first  of  the  very  volatile  character  of  anhydrous  ammonia,  in  the  expan- 
sion part  of  the  process,  and,  secondly,  of  the  great  affinity  which  water 
has  for  absorbing  such  gas.  Strange  as  it  may  appear,  the  production  of 
ice  in  the  Carre  process  begins  with  the  application  of  heat.'  It  must  be 
understood,  however,  that  this  forms  no  part  of  the  refrigerating  process 
proper,  but  only  a  means  of  driving  off  or  distilling  the  anhydrous 
ammonia  gas  (the  refrigerant)  from  its  aqueous  solution.  Ammonia 
dissolved  in  water,  known  as  aqua  ammonia,  is  placed  in  a  boiler  or  still 
above  a  furnace.  The  pure  ammonia  gas  is  thus  driven  off  from  the 
water  by  heat  under  pressure,  similar  to  that  in  a  steam  boiler,  and 
passes  direct  to  a  condenser,  where,  by  cold  water  flowing  through  pipes, 
the  pure  gas  is  liquefied  under  pressure.  The  liquefied  gas  is  then  ad- 
mitted to  the  evaporating  or  refrigerating  chamber,  where  it  expands  to 
produce  the  cold,  and  is  afterward  re-absorbed  by  the  water  from  which 
it  was  originally  driven  off  in  the  still,  to  be  used  over  again.  Machines  of 
this  type  are  known  as  absorption  machines,  for  the  reason  that  the  volatile 
gas  is  after  expansion  re-absorbed  by  the  liquid  in  which  it  was  dissolved, 
and  is  continuously  driven  off  therefrom  by  the  heat  of  a  still.  Ab- 
sorption machines  were  the  outgrowth  of  Faraday's  observations  in  1823. 
A  bent  glass  tube  was  prepared  containing  at  one  end  a  quantity  of 


442 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


chloride  of  silver,  saturated  with  ammonia  and  hermetically  sealed. 
When  the  mixture  was  heated,  the  ammonia  was  driven  over  to  the 
other  end  of  the  tube,  immersed  in  a  cold  bath,  and  the  ammonia  gas  be- 
came liquefied.  It  was  found  by  him  then  that  if  the  end  containing  the 
chloride  was  plunged  in  a  cold  bath  and  the  end  containing  liquid  ammonia 
was  immersed  in  water,  the  heat  of  the  water  made  the  ammonia  rapidly 
evaporate,  the  chloride  at  the  other  end  of  the  tube  absorbed  the  ammonia 
vapors,  and  the  water  around  the  end  of  the  tube  containing  the  liquefied 
ammonia  was  converted  into  ice,  by  the  loss  of  its  heat  imparted  to  the 
ammonia  to  volatilize  it.  It  only  needed  the  substitution  of  water  for  the 


FIG.  296. — COMPRESSION  PUMPS  OF  ICE  PLANT. 

chloride  of  silver,  as  an  absorbing  agent  for  the  ammonia,  and  mechanical 
means  for  economically  working  the  process  in  a  continuous  way  to  pro- 
duce the  Carre  absorption  machine.  The  most  common  form  of  ice  ma- 
chine to-day  is,  however,  what  is  known  as  the  compression  or  direct 
system,  in  which  the  absorption  principle  is  dispensed  with,  the  ammonia 
being  compressed  by  powerful  steam  pumps,  then  cooled  to  liquid  form 
by  condensers,  and  then  allowed  to  expand  from  its  own  pressure  through 
pipes  immersed  in  brine  in  a  large  floor  tank,  in  which  cans  containing 
pure  water  are  immersed,  and  the  water  frozen.  Fig.  296*  shows  the  com- 
pression pumps,  and  Fig.  297  the  floor  tanks,  of  such  a  system.  Many 


*  By  courtesy  of  "Ice  and  Refrigeration.' 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


443 


hundred  cans  filled  with  pure  water  are  lowered  into  the  cold  brine  of  the 
tank,  and  their  upper  ends  form  a  complete  floor,  as  seen  in  Fig.  297. 
When  the  water  in  the  cans  is  frozen,  the  cans  are  raised  out  of  the  floor 
by  a  traveling  crane  and  carried  to  one  of  the  four  doors  seen  at  the  far 
end  of  the  room.  The  ice  in  the  can  is  then  loosened  by  warm  water,  and 
the  block  dumped  through  the  door  into  a  chute,  whence  it  passes  into  the 
storage  room  below,  seen  in  Fig.  298.  In  the  can  system  the  water  is 
frozen  from  all  four  sides' to  the  center,  and  imprisons  in  the  center  any  air 
bubbles  cr  impurities  that  may  exist  in  the  water.  The  plate  system 
freezes  the  water  on  the  exterior  walls  of  hollow  plates,  which  contain 


FIG.  297. — FLOOR  TANK  OF  CAN  SYSTEM. 

within  them  the  freezing  medium.  In  freezing  the  water  externally  on 
these  plates  all  impurities  and  air  bubbles  are  repelled  and  excluded,  and 
the  ice  rendered  clear  and  transparent. 

An  ice  plant,  employing  what  is  known  as  the  "can"  system  and 
capable  of  producing  ico  tons  of  ice  in  twenty-four  hours,  requires  a 
building  about  TOO  feet  wide  and  150  feet  long,  on  account  of  the  great 
floor  space  needed  to  accommodate  the  freezing  tank,  and  the  great  number 
of  cans  which  are  immersed  in  the  same.  A  radical  departure  from  this 
style  of  plant  is  presented  in  the  Holden  ice  machine.  This  does  not 
.require  a  multitude  of  cans  and  a  great  floor  space,  but  a  lot  25  by  50 
feet  is  sufficient,  for  the  ice  is  turned  out  in  a  continuous  process  like 


444  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

bricks  from  a  brick  machine.  The  machine  works  on  the  ammonia  ab- 
sorption principle,  but  the  freezing  is  done  on  the  outer  periphery  of  a 
revolving  cylinder,  from  which  the  film  of  ice  is  scraped  off  automatically 
and  the  ice  slush  carried  away  by  a  spiral  conveyor  to  one  of  two 
press  molds,  in  which  a  heavy  pressure  solidifies  the  ice  into  blocks,  which 
are  successively .  shot  down  from  the  presses  on  a  chute  to  the  storage 
room,  as  seen  in  Fig.  299. 

The  foregoing  examples  of  ice  machines  give  no  idea  of  the  great 
activity  in  this  field  of  refrigeration  in  the  Nineteenth  Century.  Over 
600  United  States  patents  have  been  granted  for  ice  machines  alone,  to 


FIG.  298.— STORAGE  ROOM  OF  ICE  PLANT. 

say  nothing  of  refrigerating  buildings,  refrigerator  cars,  domestic  re- 
frigerators, and  ice  cream  freezers,  etc.  Among  the  earlier  workers  in 
ice  machines,  in  addition  to  those  already  named,  may  be  mentioned  the 
names  of  Gorrie,  patent  No.  8,080,  May  6,  1851,  followed  by  Twining, 
1853-1862;  Mignon  and  Rouart,  in  1865;  Lowe,  in  1867;  Somes,  in 
1867-1868;  Windhausen,  in  1870;  Rankio,  in  1876-1877,  and  many  others. 
An  application  of  the  ice  machine  which  attracted  much  attention  and 
attained  great  popularity  for  a  while  was  that  made  in  the  production  of 
artificial  skating  rinks,  in  which  a  floor  of  ice  was  frozen  by  means  of  a 
system  of  submerged  pipes,  through  which  the  cold  liquid  from  the  ice 
machine  was  made  to  circulate.  The  earliest  artificial  skating  rink  is  to 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


445 


be  found  in  the  British  patent  to  Newton,  No.  236,  of  1870,  but  it  was 
Gamgee,  in  1875  and  1876,  who  devised  practical  means  for  carrying  it 
out.  and  brought  it  into  public  use.  His  inventions  are  described  in  his 
British  patents  No.  4,412,  of  1875,  and  No.  4,176,  of  1876,  and  United 
States  patent  No.  196,653,  October  30,  1877,  and  others  in  1878. 


m 


FIG.  299.— -HOLDEN  ICE  MACHINE. 

The  Windhausen  machine  was  one  of  the  earliest  applications  for 
cooling  and  ventilating  ships.  This  machine  operated  upon  the  principle 
of  alternately  compressing  and  expanding  air,  and  is  described  in  United 
States  patents  No.  101,198,  March  22,  1870  (re-issue  No.  4,603,  October 
17,  1871),  and  No.  111,292,  January  24,  1871.  To-day  every  ocean  liner 


446  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

is  equipped  with  its  own  cold  storage  and  ice-making  plant,  refrigerator 
cars  transport  vast  cargoes  of  meats,  fish,  etc.,  across  the  continent,  and 
bring  the  ripe  fruits  of  California  to  the  Eastern  coast;  every  market 
house  has  its  cold  storage  compartments,  and  to  the  brewery  the  refrig- 
erating plant  is  one  of  its  fundamental  and  important  requisites. 

The  great  value  of  refrigerating  appliances  is  to  be  found  in  the  re- 
tardation of  chemical  decomposition  or  arrest  of  decay,  and  as  this  has 
relation  chiefly  to  preserving  the  food  stuffs  of  the  world,  its  value  can  be 
easily  understood.  This  branch  of  industry  has  grown  up  entirely  in  the 
Nineteenth  Century,  and  the  activity  in  this  field  is  attested  by  the  4,000 
United  States  patents  in  this  class. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  447 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 
LIQUID  AIR. 

LIQUEFACTION  OF  GASES  BY  NORTHMORE,  1805;  FARADAY,  1823;  BUSSY,  1824;  THILOR- 
IER,  1834,  AND  OTHERS — LIQUEFACTION  OF  OXYGEN,  NITROGEN  AND  AIR  BY  Pic- 
TET  AND  CAILLETET  IN  1877 — SELF-INTENSIFICATION  OF  COLD  BY  SIEMENS  IN  1857, 

AND    WlNDHAUSEN    IN     1870 — OPERATIONS    OF    DEWAR,    WROBLEWSKI,    AND    OLS- 

ZEWSKI — SELF-INTENSIFYING  PROCESSES  OF  SOLVAY,  TRIPLER,  LINDE,  HAMPSON, 

AND    OSTERGREN    AND    BERGER — LIQUID    AlR    EXPERIMENTS    AND    USES. 

UNTIL  quite  recently  the  physicist  divided  gaseous  matter  into  con- 
densable vapors  and  permanent  vapors.  To-day  it  is  known 
that  there  are  no  permanent  gases,  since  all  the  so-called  per- 
manent gases,  even  to  the  most  tenuous,  such  as  hydrogen,  may 
be  made  to  assume  the  liquid  and  even  the  solid  form.  The  average  in- 
dividual knows  very  little  about  hydrogen,  but  he  is  very  well  acquainted 
with  air,  and  when  he  was  told  that  the  air  that  he  breathes — the  gentle 
zephyr  that  blows — the  wind  that  storms  from  the  north,  or  twists  itself 
into  the  rage  of  a  cyclone  in  Kansas — may  be  bound  down  in  liquid  form, 
and  imprisoned  within  the  limits  of  an  open  tumbler,  or  be  bottled  up  in  a 
flask  or  even  frozen  solid,  he  was  at  first  impressed  with  the  suspicion  of 
a  fairy  story.  Seeing  is  believing,  however,  to  him,  and  the  striking  ex- 
periments from  the  lecture  platform,  the  approval  of  the  scientists,  and 
the  sensational  accounts  of  it  in  the  press,  have  not  only  been  convincing, 
but  have  completely  turned  his  head  and  made  him  a  too  willing  victim 
of  the  speculator.  Liquid  air  is  a  real  achievement,  however,  and  while  it 
is  astonishing  to  the  layman,  the  physicist  looks  upon  it  in  the  most 
matter-of-fact  way,  for  it  is  only  a  fulfilment  of  the  simplest  of  nature's 
laws,  and  entirely  consonant  with  what  he  has  been  led  to  expect  for  many 
years. 

The  liquefaction  of  gases  has  engaged  the  attention  of  the  scientist 
almost  from  the  beginning  of  the  century.  In  1805-6  Northrriore  lique- 
fied chlorine  gas.  This  was  done  again  in  1823  by  Faraday.  In  1824 
Bussy  condensed  sulphurous  acid  vapors  to  liquid  form.  In  1834  Thi- 
lorier  made  extensive  experiments  and  demonstrations  in  the  liquefaction 
of  carbonic  acid  gas.  In  1843  Aime  experimented  with  the  liquefaction 


448  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

of  gases  by  sinking  them  in  suitable  vessels  to  great  depths  in  the  ocean. 
Natterer,  in  1844,  greatly  advanced  the  study  of  this  subject  by  both 
novel  methods  and  apparatus.  Liquefaction  of  air  was  attempted  as  early 
as  1823  by  Perkins,  and  again  in  1828  by  Colladon,  but  it  was  not  accom- 
plished until  1877.  I11  tms  >'ear  ti16  liquefaction  of  oxygen,  by  Pictet,  of 
Geneva,  and  Cailletet,  of  Chatillon-sur-Seine,  was  independently  accom- 
plished. Pictet  used  a  pressure  of  320  atmospheres  and  a  temperature  of 
— 140°,  obtained  by  the  evaporation  of  liquid  sulphurous  acid  and  liquid 
carbonic  acid.  Cailletet  used  a  pressure  of  300  atmospheres  and  a  tempera- 
ture of  — 29°,  which  latter  was  obtained  by  the  evaporation  of  liquid 
sulphurous  acid.  In  1883  Dewar,  Wroblewski  and  Olszewski  commenced 
operations  in  this  field,  and  greatly  advanced  the  study  of  this  subject.  In 
January  of  1884,  Wroblewski  confirmed  the  liquefaction  of  hydrogen, 
which  had  been  imperfectly  accomplished  by  Cailletet  before.  In  the 
liquefaction  of  oxygen  and  nitrogen,  the  principal  component  gases  of  air, 
the  liquefaction  of  air  itself  followed  immediately  as  a  matter  of  course. 

Air  has  usually  been  held  to  consist  of  four  volumes  of  nitrogen  and 
one  volume  of  oxygen,  with  a  very  small  proportion  of  carbonic  acid  gas 
and  ammonia.  Recent  discoveries  have  definitely  identified  new  gases  in 
it,  however,  chief  among  which  is  argon.  For  all  practical  purposes,  how- , 
ever,  air  may  be  considered  simply  a  mixture  of  the  two  gases ;  nitrogen, 
which  is  inert  and  neither  maintains  life  nor  combustion;  and  oxygen, 
which  performs  both  of  these  functions  in  a  most  energetic  way.  Air  is 
more  dense  at  the  surface  of  the  earth,  and  becomes  continually  more  rari- 
fied  as  the  altitude  increases,  until  it  becomes  an  indefinitely  tenuous  ether. 
Light  as  we  are  accustomed  to  regard  it,  the  weight  of  a  column  of  air  one 
inch  square  is  15  pounds,  and  this  tenuous  and  unfelt  covering  presses 
upon  our  globe  with  a  total  weight  of  300,000  million  tons. 

Liquid  air  is  simply  air  which  has  been  compressed  and  cooled  to  what 
is  called  its  critical  temperature  and  pressure,  i.  c.,  the  temperature  and 
pressure  at  which  it  passes  into  another  state  of  matter,  as  from,  a  gas  to  a 
liquid.  To  liquefy  air  it  is  compressed  until  its  volume  is  reduced  to 
1/800,  that  is  to  say,  800  cubic  feet  of  air  are  reduced  to  one  cubic  foot. 
This  requires  a  pressure  of  1,250  to  2,000  pounds  to  the  square  inch. 

The  important  step  in  liquefying  air  cheaply  and  on  a  large  scale  was 
accomplished  by  the  discovery  of  what  is  known  as  the  self-intensifying 
action.  This  dispenses  with  auxiliary  refrigerants,  and  causes  the  ex- 
panding gases  to  supply  the  cold  required  for  their  own  liquefaction  by  an 
entirely  mechanical  process.  It  consists  in  compressing  the  air  (which 
produces  heat),  then  cooling  it  by  a  flowing  body  of  water,  then  passing 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


449 


it  through  a  long  coil  of  pipes  and  expanding  the  cool  compressed  air  by 
allowing  it  to  escape  through  a  valve  into  an  expansion  chamber,  where 
its  pressure  falls  from  1,250  pounds  to  300  pounds,  which  produces  a  great 
degree  of  cold ;  then  taking  this  very  cold  current  of  air  back  in  reverse 
direction  along  the  walls  of  the  coil  of  pipes,  and  causing  said  returning 
cold  air  to  further  cool  the  air  flowing  from  the  compressor  to  the  expan- 
sion tank,  and  finally  delivering  the  cold  return  flow  to  the  compressors 
and  compressing  it  again  from  a  lower  initial  point  than  it  started  with  on 
the  first  round,  and  so  continuing  this  cycle  of  circulation  through  the 


FIG.   300. — THE  SELF-INTENSIFYING  PRINCIPLE  OF   PRODUCING  COLD,   USED  TO  LIQUEFY  AIR. 

alternating  compressing  and  cooling  stages  until  the  air  condenses  in  liquid 
form  in  the  bottom  of  the  expansion  chamber.  This  successive  reduction 
of  temperature  by  the  air  acting  upon  itself  is  called  self-intensification  of 
cold,  and  it  has  an  analogy  in  the  regenerative  furnace,  where  the  augmen- 
tation of  heat  corresponds  to  the  augmentation  of  cold  in  the  self-intensi- 
fying action. 

This  principle  of  self-intensification  was  first  announced  by  Prof.  C. 
W.   Siemens  in  the  provisional   specification  of  his   British   patent   No. 


*50  IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 

2,064,  of  1857,  but  it  does  not  seem  at  -that  time  to  have  been  carried 
out  with  any  practical  result.  The  first  embodiment  of  the  principle  in 
a  refrigerating  apparatus  is  by  Winclhausen — United  States  patent  No. 
101,198,  March  22,  1870.  Solvay,  in  British  patent  No.  13,466,  of  1885, 
gave  further  development  to  the  idea,  and  following  him  came  the  oper- 
ations of  Prof.  Tripler,  who  was  the  first  to  liquefy  large  quantities  of 
air  and  to  introduce  it  to  the  American  people.  Linde,  Hampson  and 
Ostergren  and  Berger  are  more  recent  operators  in  this  field  of  self -in- 
tensification, and  Linde's  British  patent.  No.  12,528,  of  1895,  may 'be 
regarded  as  a  representative  exposition  of  the  principle.  A  simplified 
form  of  the  Linde  apparatus  is  seen  in  Fig.  300.  C  is  an  air  compress- 
ing pump,  whose  plunger  descending  compresses  the  air  and  forces  it 
out  through  valve  I,  pipe  2,  and  coil  3.  -The  coil  3  is  immersed  in  a 
flowing  body  of  water  in  the  condenser  W,  the  water  entering  at  Y  and 
passing  out  at  Z.  The^cold  compressed  air  then  passes  through  pipes 
4  and  5,  pipe  5  being  arranged  concentrically  within  a  larger  coil  7.  The 
cold  air  flowing  down  pipe  5  escapes  through  a  valve  adjusted  by  handle 
6,  into  the  subjacent  chamber  L,  and  expanding  to  a  larger  volume,  pro- 
duces a  great  degree  of  cold ;  this  cold  expanded  air  then  passing  up  the 
larger  and  outer  pipe  7  flows  back  over  the  incoming  stream  of  air  in 
pipe  5,  chilling  it  still  lower  than  the  condenser  W  did,  and  this  cold  re- 
turn flow  then  passing  from  the  top  of  coil  7  descends  through  pipe  8 
to  the  compressing  pump  C,  and  as  its  piston  rises,  it  enters  the  pump 
through  the  inwardly  opening  valve  9,  and  here  it  undergoes  another 
compression  and  circuit  through  the  pipes  2,  3,  4,  5,  but  it  is  compressed 
on  its  second  round  of  travel  at  a  lower  temperature  than  it  had  initially, 
and  so  this  circulation  of  air  going  to  the  chamber  L,  expanding,  and 
returning  over  the  inlet  flow  pipe  5,  successively  cooling  the  latter  and 
also  successively  entering  the  compressor  at  a  continually  lower  temper- 
ature at  each  cycle  of  circulation,  finally  issues  through  the  valve  at  the 
lower  end  of  pipe  5,  and  expands  to  such  a  low  temperature  that  it  con- 
denses in  chamber  L  in  liquid  form.  Fresh  accessions  of  air  are  furnished 
to  the  apparatus  through  valve  10  as  fast  as  the  air  is  liquefied.  The  in- 
let flow  to  the  liquefying  chamber  is  shown  by  the  full  line  arrows,  and 
the  return  flow  to  the  compressor  by  the  dotted  arrows,  and  the  explana- 
tion of  the  term  self-intensification  is  to  be  found  in  the  cooling  of  the 
incoming  air  in  pipe  5  by  the  outflowing  air  in  the  surrounding  pipe  7, 
and  the  repeated  reductions  of  temperature  at  which  the  air  is  returned 
to  the  compressor. 

In  Fig.  301  is  shown  the  liquefier  of  a  modern  liquid  air  plant,  in 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


151 


FIG.   301.— COMMERCIAL  PRODUCTION  OF  LIQUID  AIR. 


452  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

which  liquid  air  is  being  drawn  into  a  pail  from  the  liquefier.  Liquid  air 
evaporates  very  rapidly,  and  produces  the  intense  cold  of  312°  below 
zero.  There  is  no  known  way  to  preserve  it  beyond  a  limited  time,  for,  if 
put  in  strong,  tightly  closed  vessels,  it  would  soon  absorb  enough  heat  to 
vaporize,  and  in  time  would  acquire  a  tension  of  12,000  pounds  per 
square  inch,  and  would  burst  the  vessel  with  a  disastrous  explosion.  If 
left  exposed  to  the  air,  which  is  the  only  safe  way  to  transport  it,  it  is 
quickly  dissipated.  A  shipment  of  eight  gallons  from  New  York  to 


FIG.  302. — VESSEL  FOR  TRANSPORTING  LIQUID  AIR. 

Washington  for  lecture  purposes  shrunk  to  three  gallons  in  two  days' 
time.  It  may  usually  be  kept  longer  than  this,  however,  as  the  jarring 
of  a  railway  train  promotes  it's  evaporation  and  loss.  A  small  quantity, 
such  as  a  half  pint,  will  boil  away  in  twenty-five  to  thirty  minutes.  The 
only  way  to  preserve  it  for  any  length  of  time  is  to  surround  it  with  a 
heat-excluding  jacket.  The  simplest  and  most  effective  means  for  doing 
this  in  the  laboratory  is  to  surround  it  with  a  vacuum.  Fig.  302  showrs 
a  specially  devised  vessel  for  the  commercial  transportation  of  liquid  air. 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


453 


A  double  walled  globular  vessel  has  between  its  walls  air  spaces  and 
non-conducting  packing.  The  liquid  air  in  the  interior  chamber  vapor- 
izes gradually,  and  escaping  through  the  outwardly  opening  valve  at  the 
top,  expands  around  the  air  space  surrounding  the  inner  vessel.  From 
this  space  it  reaches  the  outer  air  by  a  valve  at  the  bottom  of  the  outer 
vessel.  The  liquid  air  in  evaporating  is  thus  carried  around  the  body 
of  liquid  air  in  the  center,  and  surrounding  it  with  an  intensely  cold  en- 
velope, prevents  the  transmission  of  heat  to  the  inner  vess.el.  To  with- 


Evaporation  of  Nitrogen.  Evaporation  of  Nitwras  Oxide.         Evaporation  of  Pure  Oxygen. 

FIG.    303. — SEPARATION    OF   LIQUID   AIR    INTO    ITS   CONSTITUENTS. 

draw  the  liquid  air,  a  pipette  or  so-called  siphon  tube,  shown  in  detached 
view,  is  substituted  for  the  valve  at  the  top. 

As  to  the  uses  of  liquid  air  it  may  be  said  that  up  to  the  present  time 
it  has  attained  little  or  no  practical  application.  There  are  two  principal 
ways  in  which  it  may  be  utilized ;  one  is  to  employ  its  enormous  expansive 
force  to  produce  mechanical  power,  and  the  other  is  as  a  refrigerant.  As 
a  means  for  obtaining  motive  power  it  is  a  fallacy  to  suppose  that  any 
more  power  can  be  obtained  from  its  expansion  than  was  originally  re- 
quired to  make  it.  It  is  like  a  resilient  spring  in  this  respect,  that  it 
can  give  out  no  more  power  than  was  required  to  compress  it.  In  some 
special  applications,  however,  as  for  propelling  torpedoes,  where  its  cost 
is  entirely  subordinate  to  effective  results,  it  might  prove  to  be  of  value. 
For  blasting  purposes  also  it  presents  the  promise  of  possible  utilization. 


454 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 


As  a  refrigerant  for  commercial  purposes,  and  for  supplying  a  dry,  cool 
temperature  to  the  sick  room,  and  for  the  preparation  of  chemicals  re- 
quiring a  low  temperature  to  manufacture,  it*  might  find  useful  applica- 
tion. Inasmuch  as  the  nitrogen  of  liquid  air  evaporates  first,  and  leaves 
nearly  pure  liquid  oxygen,  it  may  also  be  employed  as  a  means  for  pro- 
ducing and  applying  oxygen.  Good  illustration  of  this  is  given  in  Fig. 


FIG.  304. — LIQUID  AIR  EXPERIMENTS. 

I.  Magnetism  of  oxygen.     2.  Steel  burning  in  liquid  oxygen.     3.  Frozen  sheet  iron. 

4.  Explosion  of  confined  liquid  air.     5.  Burning  paper.     6.  Explosion  of 

sponge.     7.  Freezing  rubber  ball.    8.  Double  walled  vacuum 

bulb.     9.  Boiling  liquid  air. 

303,  in  which  at  i  is  shown  a  vessel  filled  with  liquid  air.  The  gas 
first  evaporating  is  nitrogen,  and  a  lighted  match  applied  to  the  surface 
of  the  liquid  is  quickly  extinguished,  since  nitrogen  does  not  support  com- 
bustion. As  the  level  of  the  liquid  falls  by  evaporation,  the  remaining 
portions  become  richer  in  oxygen  and  poorer  in  nitrogen,  and  nitrous 
oxide  gas  is  then  given  off,  which  supports  combustion  as  seen  at  2 ;  and 
when  the  last  portions  of  the  liquid  are  being  evaporated,  as  at  3,  it  is 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


455 


practically  pure  oxygen,  which  gives  a  brilliant  combustion  of  a  carbon 
pencil,  or  even  of  a  steel  spring  when  the  latter  is  heated  red  hot.  Already 
Prof.  Pictet  has  formulated  a  plan  for  the  commercial  production  and 
separation  of  the  ingredients  of  liquid  air — the  nitrogen,  carbonic  acid, 
and  oxygen  being  separated  by  their  different  evaporating  temperatures 
with  a  view  to  applying 
them  to  various  industrial 
uses.  All  of  the  commercial 
applications  of  liquid  air, 
however,  depend  upon  its 
cost  of  production,  which 
seems  at  present  an  uncer- 
tain factor.  According  to 
the  claims  of  some  it  may 
be  produced  at  a  cost  of  a 
few  cents  a  gallon.  More 
conservative  physicists  say 
that  it  costs  $5  a  gallon. 

However  this  may  be, 
the  phenomena  which  it 
presents  are  both  interest- 
ing and  instructive.  In 
Figs.  304  and  305  are 
shown  some  of  the  experi- 
ments. At  Xo.  i  a  test  tube 
containing  liquid  air,  from 
which  the  nitrogen  has  es- 
caped, is  strongly  attracted 
by  an  electro-magnet, 
showing  the  magnetic  qual- 
ity of  oxygen.  At  No.  2  is 
shown  the  combustion  of  a 
heated  piece  of  steel  in 

liquid  air,  which  has  become' 

•  i    •  ,      ,,  10.  Frozen    mercury,     n.  Liquid   oxygen   in    water, 

rich  m  oxygen  by  the  evap-       ^  Frozen   ^     ^  qCarbonic  add  gnow 

oration  of  the  nitrogen.   At  I4   Combustion  of  carbon  pencil. 

No.  3  a  tin  dipper,  which 

has  been  immersed  in  liquid  air,  has  become  so  cold  and  crystalline  that  it 

breaks  like  glass  when  dropped.     At  No.  4  liquid  air  imprisoned  in  a 

tube  and  tightly  corked  up,  blows  the  stopper  out  in  a  few  minutes  with 


FIG.  305. — LIQUID  AIR  EXPERIMENTS. 


456.  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

explosive  effect.  At  No.  5  a  piece  of  paper  saturated  with  liquid  air  burns 
with  great  energy,  and  at  No.  6  a  piece  of  sponge  or  raw  cotton  similarly 
saturated  explodes  when  ignited.  At  No.  7  a  rubber  ball  floated  on  liquid 
air  in  a  tumbler  is*  frozen  so  hard  that  when  dropped  it  flies  into  fragments 
like  a  glass  ball.  The  white,  snow-like  vapor  seen  falling  over  the  edges 
of  the  tumbler  is  intensely  cold  and  heavier  than  ordinary  air.  At  No.  8 
is  illustrated  the  preservation  of  liquid  air  by  surrounding  it  with  a  vacuum 
in  a  Dewar  bulb.  At  No.  9  a  flask  of  liquid  air  is  made  to  boil  by  the  mere 
heat,  of  the  hand.  A  more  striking  experiment  still  of  the  same  kind  is  to 
place  a  tea  kettle  containing  liquid  air  on  a  block  of  ice.  The  block  of  ice 
is  relatively  so  much  hotter  than  the  liquid  air  that  the  liquid  air  in  the 
kettle  is  made  to  boil.  At  No.  10,  Fig.  305,  a  heavy  weight  is  suspended 
by  a  link  composed  of  a  bar  of  mercury  frozen  solid  in  liquid  air.  So  hard 
is  the  mercury  frozen  that  a  hammer  made  of  it  will  drive  a  tenpenny  nail 
up  to  its  head  in  a  pine  board.  In  No.  1 1  a  layer  of  liquid  air  on  water  at 
first  floats  because  it  is  lighter  than  water.  As  the  lighter  nitrogen  evap- 
orates, the  heavier  oxygen  sinks  in  drops  through  the  water.  At  No.  12 
a  tumbler  of  whiskey  is  frozen  solid  by  immersing  a  tube  containing  liquid 
air  in  it.  The  frozen  block  of  whiskey  with  the  cavity  formed  by  the  tube 
is  shown  on  the  left.  It  is  a  whiskey  tumbler  made  out  of  whiskey.  A 
more  sensational  experiment  is  to  substitute  a  tapering  tin  cup  for  the  tube, 
then  fill  it  with  liquid  air  and  immerse  it  in  water.  In  a  few  minutes  the 
tapering  tin  cup  has  frozen  on  its  outer  walls  a  tumbler  of  ice.  This  may 
be  carefully  removed,  and  the  ice  tumbler  is  then  filled  with  liquid  air  rich 
in  oxygen,  which,  by  maintaining  the  cold  of  the  ice  tumbler,  keeps  it  from 
melting.  A  carbon  pencil  or  a  steel  spring  heated  to  redness  will  now,  if 
dipped  in  the  liquid  oxygen  in  the  ice  tumbler,  burn  with  vehement  bril- 
liancy and  beautiful  scintillations,  involving  the  anomalous  conditions  of 
a  white  hot  heat  and  active  combustion  in  the  center  of  a  tumbler  of  ice, 
without  melting  the  tumbler.  In  experiment  13,  Fig.  305,  a  jet  of  car- 
bonic acid  gas  directed  into  a  dish  floating  in  a  glass  of  liquid  air  is 
immediately  frozen  into  minute  flakes,  producing  a  miniature  snow  storm 
of  carbonic  acid.  In  experiment  14  an  electric  light  carbon  heated  to  a 
red  heat  at  its  tip,  is  plunged  vertically  into  a  deep  glass  of  liquid  oxygen. 
A  most  singular  combustion  takes  place.  The  heat  of  the  carbon  evap- 
orates the  oxygen  in  its  immediate  vicinity,  and  the  carbon 'burns  with 
great  brilliancy  and  violence,  forming  carbonic  acid,  which  is  largely 
frozen  in  the  liquid  before  it  reaches  the  surface,  and  falls  back  to  the  bot- 
tom of  the  dish,  so  that  the  combustion  is  maintained  and  its  products  re- 
tained within  the  dish.  A  beefsteak  may  be  frozen  in  liquid  air  to  such 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  457 

brittleness  that  it  is  shattered  like  a  china  plate  when  struck  a  slight  blow. 
The  intense  cold  of  liquid  air  does  not  destroy  the  vitality  or  germinating 
power  of  seed,  but  produces  serious  so-called  burns  on  the  flesh  that 
destroy  the  tissues  and  do  not  heal  for  many  months,  and  yet  for  a  moment 
the  finger  may  be  dipped  in  liquid  air  with  impunity  because  of  the  gaseous 
envelope  with  which  the  finger  is  temporarily  surrounded. 


458  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INDENTION 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

MINOR  INVENTIONS 

AND 
PATENTS  IN  PRINCIPAL  COUNTRIES  OF  THE  WORLD. 

IF  the  reader  has  been  patient  enough  to  have  reviewed  the  preceding 
pages,  the  impression  may  have  been  formed  that  the  notable  inven- 
tions referred  to  represent  all  that  is  worth  while  to  consider  in  this 
great  field  of  human  achievement.  It  would  be  a  fallacy  to  entertain 
such  a  thought,  for  the  little  stars  out-number  the  big  ones,  and  the  twigs 
of  the  tree  are  far  more  numerous  than  its  branches.  The  great  things  in 
life  are  comparatively  few  and  far  between,  and  the  bulk  of  human  exist- 
ence is  made  up  of  an  unclassified  mass  of  little  things,  sown  like  sands 
along  the  shore  of  time  between  the  boulders  of  great  events.  So  also  in 
invention  is  its  warp  and  woof  made  up  of  a  multitude  of  little  threads  be- 
hind the  gorgeous  patterns  of  meteoric  genius.  Every  hour  of  the  day  of 
modern  life  is  replete  with  the  achievements  of  invention.  Look  around 
the  room,  and  there  is  not  a  thing  in  sight  that  does  not  suggest  the 
material  advance  of  the  age ;  the  books,  the  furniture,  the  carpets,  the  cur- 
tains, the  wall  paper,  the  clock,  the  mantels,  the  house  trimmings,  the  culi- 
nary utensils,  and  the  clothing,  all  represent  creations  of  this  century.  So 
full  is  the  daily  life  of  these  things,  and  so  much  of  a  necessity  have  they 
all  become,  that  their  commonplace  character  dismisses  them  from  con- 
spicuous notice.  Take  the  most  matter-of-fact  and  prosy  half  hour  of  the 
day,  that  at  the  time  of  rising,  and  see  what  a  faithful  account  of  the  aver- 
age man's  everyday  life  would  present.  The  awakening  is  definitely  deter- 
mined by  an  alarm  clock,  and  the  sleepy  Nineteenth  Century  man  rolling 
over  under  the  seductive  comfort  of  a  spring  bed.  .takes  another  nap,  be- 
cause he  knows  that  the  rapid  transit  cars  will  give  him  time  to  spare.  Ris- 
ing a  little  later  his  bare  feet  find  a  comfortable  footing  on  a  machine-made 
rug,  until  thrust  into  full  fashioned  hose,  and  ensconced  in  a  pair  of  ma- 
chine-sewed slippers.  Drawing  the  loom-made  lace  curtains,  he  starts  up 
the  window  shade  on  the  automatic  Hartshorn  roller  and  is  enabled  to  see 
how  to  put  in  his  collar  button  and  adjust  his  shirt  studs.  He  awakens 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  459 

the  servant  below  with  an  electric  bell,  calls  down  the  speaking  tube  to 
order  breakfast,  and  perhaps  lights  the  gas  for  her  by  the  push  button.  He 
then  proceeds  to  the  bath,  where  hot  and  cold  water,  the  sanitary  closet,  a 
gas  heater,  and  a  great  array  of  useful  modern  articles  present  themselves, 
such  as  vaseline,  witch  hazel,  dentifrices,  cold  cream,  soaps  and  antiseptics, 
which  supply  every  luxurious  want  and  every  modern  conception  of  sani- 
tation. His  bath  concluded,  he  proceeds  to  dress,  and  maybe  puts  in  his 
false  teeth,  or  straps  on  an  artificial  leg.  Donning  his  shirt  with  patented 
gussets  and  bands,  he  quickly  adjusts  his  separable  cuff  buttons,  puts  on 
his  patented  suspenders,  and,  winding  a  stem-winding  watch,  proceeds 
down  stairs  to  breakfast.  A  revolving  fly  brush  and  fly  screens  contribute 
to  his  comfort.  A  cup  of  coffee  from  a  drip  coffee-pot,  a  lump  of  artificial 
ice  in  his  tumbler,  sausage  ground  in  a  machine,  batter  cakes  made  with  an 
egg  beater,  waffles  from  a  patented  waffle  iron,  honey  in  artificial  honey 
comb,  cream  raised  by  a  centrifugal  skimmer,  butter  made  in  a  patented 
churn,  hot  biscuits  from  the  cooking  range,  and  a  refrigerator  with  a  well 
stocked  larder,  all  help  to  make  him  comfortable  and  happy.  The  picture 
is  not  exceptional  in  its  fullness  of  invented  agencies,  and  one  could  just  as 
well  go  on  with  our  citizen  through  the  rest  of  the  day's  experience,  and 
start  him  off  after  breakfast  with  a  patented  match,  in  a  patented  match 
case,  and  a  patented  cigarette,  with  his  patented  overshoes  and  umbrella, 
and  send  him  along  over  the  patented  pavement  to  the  patented  street  car, 
or  automobile,  and  so  on  to  the  end  of  the  day. 

Some  of  the  minor  inventions  are  really  of  too  much  importance  to  be 
passed  without  comment.  The  cable  car  is  a  factor  which  has  cut  no  small 
figure  in  the  activities  of  city  life.  The  first  patent  on  a  slotted  under- 
ground conduit  between  the  rails,  with  traction  cable  inside  and  running 
on  pulleys,  was  that  to  E.  A.  Gardner,  No.  19,736,  March  23,  1858.  Halli- 
die,  in  San  Francisco,  in  1876,  directed  his  energies  to  a  development  of 
this  system,  and  brought  it  to  a  degree  of  perfection  and  general  adoption 
that  made  it  for  many  years  the  leading  system  of  street  car  propulsion. 
To-day,  however,  it  represents  but  a  decadent  type,  being  largely  sup- 
planted by  the  superior  advantages  of  electricity. 

Passenger  elevators  constitute  one  of  the  conspicuous  features  of  mod- 
ern locomotion.  Without  them  the  tall  office  buildings,  hotels,  and  depart- 
ment stores  would  have  no  existence ;  the  Eiffel  Tower  would  never  have 
been  dreamed  of,  and  the  expenditure  of  vital  force  in  stair  climbing  would 
have  been  greatly  augmented.  The  passenger  elevator  has  for  its  prototype 
the  ancient  hoist  or  lift  for  mines,  but  in  the  latter  half  of  the  Nineteenth 
Century  it  has  developed  into  a  distinct  institution — a  luxurious  little 


460  THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

room,  gliding  noiselessly  up  and  down,  actuated  by  a  power  that  is  not 
seen,  and  supplied  with  every  appliance  for  safety  and  comfort,  such  as 
governors,  safety  catches,  automatic  stops,  mirrors  and  cushioned  seats. 
The  principle  of  the  screw,  of  balance  weights,  of  the  lazy  tongs,  and  other 
mechanical  powers  have  each  found  application  in  the  elevator,  but  steam, 
hydraulic  power,  and  electricity  constitute  the  moving  agencies  of  the 
modern  type.  The  patent  to  E.  G.  Otis,  No.  31,128,  January  15,  1861, 
marks  the  beginning  of  its  useful  applications. 

Of  close  kin  to  the  elevator  are  the  fire  escape,  dumb  waiter  and  grain 
elevator,  each  of  which  fills  a  more  or  less  important  function  in  the  life  of 
to-day. 

What  more  ubiquitous  or  ingenious  illustration  of  modern  progress 
than  the  American  stem  winding  watch!  Up  to  the  middle  of  the  century 
all  watches  were  made  by  hand  throughout.  Each  watch  had  its  own  in- 
dividuality as  a  separate  creation,  and  only  the  privileged  few  were  able  to 
carry  them.  In  1848  Aaron  L.  Dennison,  a  Boston  watch  maker,  began 
making  watches  by  machinery,  and  the  foundation  of  the  system  of  inter- 
changeable parts  was  laid.  A  small  factory  at  Roxbury,  Mass.,  was  estab- 
lished in  1850,  which  four  years  later  was  moved  to  Waltham.  In  1857  it 
passed  into  the  hands  of  Appleton,  Tracy  &  Co.,  and  was  subsequently 
acquired  by  the  American  Watch  Co.  As  presenting  some  idea  of  the 
great  elaboration  involved  in  this  art,  it  was  estimated  a  few  years  ago 
that  3,746  distinct  mechanical  operations  were  required  to  make  an  ordi- 
nary machine  made  watch.  A  single  pound  of  steel  wire  is  sometimes  con- 
verted into  a  couple  of  hundred  thousand  tiny  screws,  and  another  pound 
of  fine  steel  wire  furnishes  17,280  hair  springs,  worth  several  thousand 
dollars.  The  absolute  uniformity  and  perfect  interchangeability  of  parts 
in  the  American  watch  have  been  obtained  by  substituting  the  invariable 
and  mathematical  accuracy  of  the  machine  for  the  nervous  fingers  and 
dimming  eyes  of  the  old  time  watchmaker,  and  the  American  machine 
made  watch,  discredited  as  it  was  at  first,  stands  to-day  the  greatest  mod- 
ern advance  in  horology. 

Friction  Matches. — In  1805  Thenard,  of  Paris,  made  the  first  attempt 
to  utilize  chemical  agencies  for  the  ordinary  production  of  fire.  In  1827 
John  Walker,  an  English  druggist,  made  friction  matches  called  "con- 
greves."  In  1833  phosphorus  friction  matches  were  introduced  on  a  com- 
mercial scale  by  Preschel,  of  Vienna.  In  1845  re^  phosphorus  matches 
(parlor  matches)  were  made  by  Von  Schrotter,  of  Vienna,  and  in  1855 
safety  matches,  which  ignited  only  on  certain  substances,  were  made  by 
Lundstrom,  of  Sweden.  Prior  to  the  Nineteenth  Century,  and  in  fact  until 


IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  461 

about  1833,  the  old  flint  and  steel  and  tinder  box  were  the  clumsy  and  un- 
certain means  for  producing  fire.  To-day  the  friction  match  is  turned  out 
by  automatic  machinery  by  the  million,  and  constitutes  probably  the  most 
ubiquitous  and  useful  of  all  the  minor  inventions. 

Step  into  any  of  the  great  department  stores  and  the  genius  of  the  in- 
ventor confronts  you  in  the  cash  carrier  whisking  its  little  cars  back  and 
forth  from  the  cashier's  desk  to  the  most  remote  corners  of  the  great  build- 
ing. The  first  of  these  mechanical  carriers  adapted  for  store  service  was 
patented  by  D.  Brown,  July  13,  1875,  No.  165,473.  Not  until  about  1882, 
however,  was  there  any  noticeable  adoption,  of  the  system,  when  practical 
development  was  given  in  Martin's  patents,  No.  255,525,  March  28,  1882 ; 
Xo.  276,441,  April  24,  1883,  and  No.  284,456,  September  4,  1883.  Go  to 
the  lunch  counter,  and  the  cash  register  reminds  you  that  the  millenium  of 
absolute  honesty  is  not  yet  realized.  The  bell  punch  on  the  street  car  and 
the  burglar  proof  safe  with  its  combination  locks  are  other  suggestions  in 
the  same  line.  The  first  fire  proof  safe  is  disclosed  in  the  British  patent  to 
Richard  Scott,  No.  2,477,  of  1801.  The  time  lock,  which  prevents  the  safe 
from  being  opened  by  anyone  except  at  a  certain  period  of  daylight,  was 
invented  by  J.  V.  Savage,  and  was  covered  by  him  in  United  States  patent 
Xo.  5,321,  October  9,  1847.  The  practical  adoption  of  time  locks  began 
about  1875  with  the  operations  of  Sargent,  Stockwell  and  others,  and  to- 
day they  constitute  one  of  the  most  important  features  of  bank  safes  and 
vaults,  and  represent  a  marvelously  beautiful  and  accurate  example  of 
mechanical  skill. 

The  Otto  gas-engine,  and  the  Ericsson  air-engine  are  important  devel- 
opments in  power  producing  motors,  and  the  improvements  in  pavements 
and  in  street  sweepers  for  cleaning  them,  contribute  to  the  cleanliness,  san- 
itation, and  aesthetic  values  of  city  life.  The  cigarette  machine,  which  con- 
tinuously curls  a  ribbon  of  paper  around  a  core  of  tobacco  to  form  a  rope, 
and  then  cuts  it  off  into  cigarettes,  is  an  important  invention  in  the  tobacco 
industry,  however  doubtful  its  hygienic  value  to  the  world  may  be.  The 
lightning  rod  has  brought  protection  to  homes  and  lives,  and  the  incubator 
has  become  the  hen's  wet  nurse.  In  agriculture,  the  reaper  has  been  sup- 
plemented with  threshing  machines,  seeders,  drills,  cultivators,  horse  rakes 
and  plows.  In  the  farm  yard  appear  the  improved  carriage  and  wagon, 
the  well  pump,  the  wind  wheel,  the  fruit  drier,  the  bee  hive,  and  the  cotton 
and  cider  press.  In  the  kitchen,  the  washing  machine,  the  churn,  the 
cheese  press,  ironing  machine,  wringer,  the  rat  trap,  and  fruit  jar.  In  the 
house,  the  folding  bed,  tilting  chair,  carpet  sweeper,  and  the  piano.  In 
heating  appliances,  steam  and  water  heating  systems,  base  burning  and 


462  THE    PROGRESS    OF    INVENTION 

latrobe  stoves,  hot  air  furnaces,  gas  and  oil  stoves.  In  plastics  there  are 
brick  machines,  pressed  glass  ware,  enameled  sheet  iron  ware,  tiles,  paper 
buckets,  celluloid  and  rubber  articles. ,  In  hydraulics  there  are  rams,  water 
closets,  pumps,  and  turbine  water  wheels.  In  mining  there  are  stamp 
mills,  ore  crushers,  separators,  concentrators,  and  amalgamators.  In  the 
leather  and  bcot  and  shoe  industry  there  is  a  great  variety  of  machines  and 
appliances.  The  paper  industry,  with  book  binding  machines,  and  paper 
box  machines,  is  a  fertile  field  of  invention.  Steam  boilers,  metallurgical 
appliances,  soap  making,  chemical  fire  extinguishers,  fountain  pens,  the 
sand  blast,  bottle  stoppers,  and  a  thousand  other  things  present  themselves 
in  miscellaneous  and  endless  array.  These  are,  however,  only  some  of  the 
things  which  the  limitation  of  space  precludes  from  individual  treatment, 
but  which  are  none  the  less  important  in  making  up  the  great  resources  of 
modern  'life,  and,  for  the  most  part,  represent  the  contributions  of  the 
Nineteenth  Century  not  heretofore  considered. 

The  observant  and  thoughtful  reader  finds  just  here  occasion  to  inquire 
the  meaning  of  this  great  rising  tide  of  progress  which  has  so  distin- 
guished the  Nineteenth  Century.  It  is  largely  due  to  the  Patent  Law, 
which  justly  regards  the  inventor  as  a  public  benefactor,  and  seeks  to  make 
for  him  some  protection  in  the  enjoyment  of  his  rights.  If  a  man  be  in  the 
possession  of  a  legacy  by  the  accident  of  birth,  the  law  of  inheritance  rules 
that  it  is  rightfully  his.  The  finding  of  a  thing,  whether  by  jetsam,  flot- 
sam, or  the  lucky  accident  cf  a  first  discovery,  this  also  makes  good  his 
title,  if  there  be  no  other  owner.  There  is,  however,  a  right  of  property 
which  is  higher  than  all  others,  and  in  which  there  is  coupled  with  the  pos- 
session of  the  thing  the  sacred  function  of  its  creation.  The  right  of  a 
mother  to  her  child  is  of  this  nature,  and  like  unto  it  is  the  right  of  the 
inventor  to  the  creation  of  his  genius.  In  the  last  two  centuries  of  the 
world's  history  this  right  has  been  recognized  by  an  enlightened  civiliza- 
tion, and  provision  made  for  its  enjoyment  in  the  grant  of  patents,  and  if 
there  be  any  right  more  strongly  entrenched  than  another  in  the  eternal 
verities  of  equity  and  justice  it  is  this.  Our  first  crude  patent  law  was  en- 
acted in  1790,  but  not  until  1836  was  the  present  system  adopted.  Our 
own  and  comparatively  new  country  has,  therefore,  not  yet  had  a  hundred 
years  of  existence  under  our  present  Patent  System,  and  yet  to-day  it  out- 
strips the  world  both  in  its  material  resources  and  in  its  wealth  of  patented 
inventions.  The  accompanying  diagram.  Fig.  306,  illustrates  in  a  graphic 
way  just  what  relation  the  United  States  bears  to  the  other  leading 
countries  of  the  world  in  the  matter  of  patents  granted,  and  when  it  is 
remembered  that  under  our  system  a  patent  can  only  be  granted  for  a 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


463 


new  invention,  while  in  some  of  the  other  countries  it  is  not  essential  to 
the  grant,  the  richness  in  invention  of  the  United  States,  with  its  six 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  patents,  can  be  better  appreciated.  This  is  a 
greater  number  than  has  been  issued  by  Great  Britain  and  France  put 
together.  Connecticut  is  the  most  productive  State  in  invention  in  pro- 
portion to  its  people,  and  Edison  is  the  most  prolific  inventor.  From  1870 
to  1900  he  has  taken  727  United  States  patents,  and  there  are  from 
twenty-five  to  thirty  other  American  inventors  each  of  whom  has  taken 
100  or  more  patents. 

The  year  1790  was  notable  in  two  events,  the  birth  of  our  patent  sys- 


TOTAL  NUMBER  PATENTS  TO  JAN. ia-r  1900 

V  PAT'S.  FOR  /8993£STS*t»T£O) 


UNITED  STflTES 
fftANCE  ...... 

CN6LRNO  ____ 

BELGIUM  ______ 


IS50./23 


308.558 


ITALY-  BKKD.  49.990 

5/VJ/A/.  .....  Jl  22314 


RfiTEQF  ISSUE   OF  U.S.  PATENTS 

FIG.  306. 

tem  and  the  death  of  Benjamin  Franklin.  That  grand  old  philosopher, 
with  a  prescience  of  future  greatness  to  come  from  the  genius  of  the  in- 
ventor, is  said  to  have  expressed  the  wish  before  he  died  that  he  might  be 
sealed  up  in  a  cask  of  old  Madeira  and  be  brought  to  life  a  hundred  years 
in  the  future,  that  he  might  witness  the  growth  of  the  world.  Who  can 
tell  what  his  emotions  would  be  if  he  were  with  us  to-day?  It  is  said, 
when  he  first  saw  the  fibres  of  the  string  diverge,  and  the  spark  pass  from 
the  cord  of  his  kite,  and  the  lightning  was  for  the  first  time  obedient  to 
the  will  of  man,  that  he  uttered  a  deep  sigh  and  wished  that  that  moment 
were  his  last.  To  this  poor  knowledge  of  electricity  he  would  now  have 
added  all  the  wonders  and  powers  of  the  telegraph,  the  dynamo,  the  tele- 


464  THE    PROGRESS    OF    INVENTION 

phone,  and  the  great  modern  electrical  science ;  to  I  iis  primitive  hand  press 
he  would  have  contrasted  the  Octuple  perfecting  press,  turn:ng  out  pa- 
pers at  the  rate  of  1,600  a  minute;  his  modest  type-setting  case  would  be 
replaced  by  a  great  array  of  linotype  machines,  and  he  would  find  several 
acres  of  woodland  sacrificed  to  produce  the  wood-pulp  paper  of  a  single 
edition  of  a  New  York  daily.  Would  he  not  realize  indeed  that  truth  is 
stranger  than  fiction,  and  fact  more  wonderful  than  fancy's  dream ! 


IN  THE  NINETEENTh   CENTURY.  465 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 
EPILOGUE. 

WHATEVER  the  future  centuries  may  bring  in  new  and  useful 
inventions,  certain  it  is  that  the  Nineteenth  Century  stands 
pre-eminent  in  this  field  of  human  achievement,  so  far  excel- 
ling all  other  like  periods  as  to  establish  on  the  pages  of  his- 
tory an  epoch  as  remarkable  as  it  is  unique.  Never  before  has  human 
conception  so  expressed  itself  in  materialized  embodiment,  never  has 
thought  been  so  fruitfully  wedded  to  the  pregnant  possibilities  of  matter, 
never  has  the  divine  function  of  creation  been  so  closely  approximated, 
never  has  such  an  accretion  of  helpful  instrumentalities  and  material  re- 
sources been  added  to  the  world's  wealth — not  merely  the  miserly  and  inert 
wealth  of  gold  and  gems,  but  the  wealth  of  an  enlarged  human  existence. 
This  life  itself  is  but  a  limited  span ;  beginning  in  infancy,  expanding  to 
highest  achievement  in  middle  age,  and  declining  at  the  end,  it  quickly 
passes  away,  and  another  generation  follows.  Growth  and  decay  with  all 
living  things  mark  the  immutable  law  of  nature,  and  the  inevitable  fate  of 
mortality.  The  rose  blossoms  into  beauty,  fades,  and  decays.  The  bird 
in  the  air,  and  the  beast  in  the  field,  each  plays  his  part  and  passes  to  the 
great  unknown,  leaving  no  record;  man  himself  is  mortal,  but  his  work 
is  immortal.  The  inspired  conception  of  his  best  thought,  the  materialized 
embodiment  of  his  work  in  useful  agencies,  and  the  subjugation  of  the 
laws  of  nature  to  his  service,  all  endure  and  live  forever  in  his  inventions. 
These  partake  of  the  breath  of  life,  and  in  their  immortality  are  of  kin  to 
the  soul.  Cities  may  grow  up  and  vanish,  civilizations  may  decay,  and  man 
himself  may  degenerate,  but  the  principle  of  the  lever  and  the  screw,  once 
discovered,  is  for  all  time  perfect,  invariable  and  immortal.  Every  in- 
vention made  is  another  permanent  gift  to  posterity.  All  of  enduring 
wealth  that  the  present  gets  from  the  past  are  its  ideas  reduced  to  a  work- 
ing basis.  All  else  is  but  dross,  or  evanescent  dreams  which  vanish  into 
oblivion  in  the  light  of  a  larger  knowledge.  But  ideas  wrought  into  prac- 
tical, substantive  things,  tried  and  proven  true,  these  are  inventions — im- 
mortal creations — and  of  these  the  Nineteenth  Centnrv  has  borne  fruit  in 


466  THE    PROGRESS    OF    INVENTION 

paramount  abundance,  and  this  legacy  it  now  bequeaths  to  the  coming 
century. 

To  follow  conventional  methods,  the  final  chapter  of  a  book  should  be 
an  "In  conclusion"  with  a  "finis"  and  a  dismantled  torch,  but  the  history 
of  invention  will  ever  be  a  continued  story.  There  is  no  end  in  this  field. 
The  trusteeship  of  the  Twentieth  Century  man  is  great,  and  great  his 
responsibilities ;  but  his  restless  and  dominant  spirit  knows  no  decadence, 
and  his  mental  endowment  and  material  equipment,  without  parallel  in 
history,  are  a  guarantee  of  future  achievements.  Will  not  the  chemist 
learn  how  to  produce  electricity  direct  from  the  combustion  of  coal,  or 
solve  the  problem  of  the  synthesis  of  food?  Will  not  the  American  con- 
tinent be  parted  by  an  inter-oceanic  canal,  or  the  rough  waters  of  the 
English  Channel  be  avoided  with  a  submarine  tunnel?  May  not  a  ship 
canal  through  France  to  the  Mediterranean  give  to  that  country  the  con- 
nected enjoyment  of  riparian  rights,  without  passing  the  frowning  battle- 
ments of  Gibraltar,  or  might  not  a  tunnel  under  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar 
put  Europe  and  Africa  in  direct  railway  communication?  The  relation 
of  electricity  to  life  is  a  field  of  pregnant  possibilities,  and  may  we  not 
also  learn  to  swap  the  surplus  heat  of  summer  for  the  winter's  cold,  and 
by  an  equalization  of  their  two  extremes  bring  eternal  spring  and  joy  to 
the  animated  world?  Shall  we  not  yet- stand  on  the  North  Pole,  or  look- 
ing away  into  space  may  we  not  extend  a  neighborly  welcome  to  our 
brothers  in  Mars,  if  any  there  be?  It  is  permitted  to  dream  in  this  field, 
for  it  is  this  reaching  out  into  the  unknown  that  plats  the  boundaries  of 
an  extended  world,  and  adds  to  the  possessions  of  man. 

The  old  man  in  his  dreams  of  the  past  rejoices  in  his  achievements,  for 
he  has  stolen  the  fires  of  Prometheus  and  forged  anew  the  thunder- 
bolts of  Jove  for  the  arts  of  peace.  Delving  into  the  secret  recesses  of  the 
earth,  he  has  tapped  the  hidden  supplies  of  nature's  fuel,  has  invaded  her 
treasure  house  of  gold  and  silver,  robbed  Mother  Earth  of  her  hoarded 
stores,  and  possessed  himself  of  her  family  record,  finding  on  the  pages 
of  geology  sixty  millions  of  years'  existence.  Peering  into  the  invisible 
little  world,  the  infinite  secrets  of  microcosm  have  yielded  their  fruitful  and 
potent  knowledge  of  bacteria  and  cell  growth.  Pain  has  been  robbed  of  its 
terrors  by  anaesthesia ;  the  heat  of  the  sun  has  been  brought  down  in  the 
electric  furnace,  and  the  cold  of  inter-stellar  space  in  the  ice  machine  and 
liquid  air.  With  telescope  and  spectroscope  he  has  climbed  into  limitless 
space  above,  and  defined  the  size,  distance,  and  constitution  of  a  star 
millions  of  miles  away.  The  north  star  has  been  made  his  sentinel  on  the 
sea.  The  lightning  is  made  his  swift  messenger,  and  thought  flashes  ''n 


IN   THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  467 

submarine  depths  around  the  world.  Dead  matter  is  made  to  speak  in  the 
phonograph,  the  invisible  has  been  revealed  in  the  X-Rays,  coal  has  been 
made  his  black  slave,  steam  the  breath  of  the  world's  life,  and  all  of 
nature's  forces  have  been  made  his  constant  servants  in  attendance. 

With  such  a  retrospect,  the  sage  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  may  He 
down  to  quiet  rest,  with  an  assuring  faith  that  what  God  hath  wrought 
is  good,  and  what  is  not  may  yet  be. 


INDEX. 


Abbe's    Stereo-Binocular 289 

Absorption  Process,  Ice  Making. . .  441 

Acetylene  Gas 333 

Adirondack,    Steamer 141 

Agricultural    Chemistry 225 

Aids  to   Digestion 243 

Air    Blast    374 

Air    Brakes    129 

Air,  Carburetted     336 

Alloys 389 

Aluminum  225 — 390 

Ambrotype    ^ 304 

Anaesthesia    '."I 246 

Anaesthesia  by  Chloroform 247 

Ancient  Iron  Furnace 372 

Aniline  222 

Annealing  and  Tempering,  Electri- 
city   in 387 

Antikamnia    ( Acetanalide) 248 

Antipyrine     248 

Antiseptic    Surgery 256 

Antiseptics,  Coal  Tar 223 

Archer's  Collodion  Process  Photos  304 

Arc  Lamp    Feed     66 

Arc  Lamp,  Simple   64 

Arc  Lamp,  Weston    65 

Arc  Lamp,  Large     65 — 69 

Arkwright's  Drawing  Rolls 421 

Arlberg    Tunnel 346 

Armored    Cruiser 150 

Armor  Plates,  Manufacture  of. . . .  383 

Artesian    Wells 35o 

Artificial    Limbs 251 

Atlantic  Cable 32—37 

Automatic  Ball    Governor 104 

Automatic  Telegraph    22 

Automobile  265 — 272 

Automobile    Statistics 271 

Babbitt    Metal 389 

Bachelder  Sewing  Machine  Feed..  186 

Bacteriology  252 

Bain's    Telegraph... 22 

Baldwin's    Locomotives 126 

Band  Saws 364 

Barbed  Wire  Fences 388 

Barlow's  Electric  Wheel 48 

Battery,   Storage 88 

Battleships    150 

Beach,  Alfred  E.,  Tunneling  Shield  346 

Beach's   Typewriter 174 

Bell  &  Tainter's  Improved  Phono- 


graph      276 

Bell's    Telephone 77 

Bentham,    Sir    S.,    Invents    Wood- 
working Machinery 360 

Berliner's  Telephone 82 

Bessemer    Steel 376 

Beverages    244 

Blake  Telephone  Transmitter 83 

Blanchard's   Lathe 368 

Blast   Furnace 374 — 375 

Blasting  351 

Blasting,    Electro 99 

Blenkinsop's  Locomotive 119 

Blickensderfer    Typewriter 180 

Bloomeries,    Air 373 

Body   Appliances,    Electric 97 

Book    Typewriter 181 

Bourdon's  Steam  Gauge 107 

Bicycle   259 — 265 

Bicycle    Speed 264 

Bicycle    Statistics 265 

Binding  Devices  for  Reaper 203 

Biograph    298 

Bipolar  Dynamo 42 

Brake,  Bicycle 264 

Bramah's    Planer..... 366 

Branca's  Steam  Turbine 109 

Branson's  Automatic  Knitter 431 

Breech      Mechanism,      Interrupted 

Thread  399 

Bridge,  Brooklyn    342 

Bridge,  Cabin  John 344 

Bridge,  Forth    340 

Bridges,    Masonry 342 

Bridge,    Trezzo 344 

Bright's   Disease 250 

Brooklyn,  Armored  Cruiser 151 

Brooklyn    Bridge 342 

Buildings,    High 353 

Burt's    Typewriter 172 

Butchering  and  Dressing  Meats. . .  237 

Buttonhole    Machine 191 

Cabin  John   Bridge 344 

Cablegrams,  First 33 

Cable    Statistics    36 

Cable,  Submarine  32 

Cable   Tolls    37 

Cableway,  Lidgerwood 349 

Caissons    345 

Calcium  Carbide 225 

Calcium  Carbide  Factories 336 


4?o 


INDEX. 


Calcium   Carbide  Furnace 46 

Caligraph   Typewriter 177 

Calotype    303 

Camera    306 

Camera  Obscura  306 

Camera  Shutter    307 

Canal,  Chicago   Drainage 350 

Canal,  Suez    347 

Candle,  Jablochkoff. 64 

Canning     Industry. 235 

Cannon,   Breech-Loading 397 

Cannon    Invention 395 

Caoutchouc  210 

Capitol   Building 357 

Caps,    Percussion 416 

Carafes,    Frozen 441 

Carbolic    Acid 247 

Carbon  Microphone 82 

Carbon- Printing,     Photography 305 

Carborundum 225 

Carborundum   Furnace 45 

Carburetted    Air 336 

Car  Coupling 129 

Carpet  Sewing  Machine 192 

Carre's  Ice  Machine 441 

Cartwright  Invents  Power  Loom. .  426 

Car  Wheels,  Turning 387 

Cash    Carrier 461 

Casting  Pig  Iron 379 

Castalia,   Steamer 140 

Cathode    Ray 321 

Celestial     Photography 310 

Cemementation    385 — 387 

Centrifugal     Filter 243 

Centrifugal  Milk  Skimmer 235 

Chain    Bicycle 263 

Chair,    Electrocution 44 

Champion    Reaper 202 

Charlotte   Dundas,    Steamboat 134 

Chemical    Telegraph 22 

Chemistry    221 — 227 

Chicago  Drainage  Canal 350 

Chill    Molds 388 

Chipping  Logs,  Wood  Pulp 162 

Chloral   Hydrate 247 

Chronology  of  Inventions 7 — 14 

Circular  Saw,  Hammering  to  Ten- 
sion     362 

Circulation  of  Blood 246 

Civil  Engineering 340 — 359 

Clermont,  Steamboat 136 

Cloth,    Finishing ; .  .  432 

Cloth    Presser 432 

Coal  Gas  Works 330 

Coal  Tar  Dyes,    Statistics 226 

Coal  Tar  Products    222 

Coating  with  Metal 387 

Code,    Morse 20 

Collecting    Rubber 2U 

Collodion   Process   Photography. . .  304 


Color  Photography    311 

Color  Printing    Press 159 

Columbia  Electric  Automobile 270 

Columbian    Press 156 

Compound  Expansion    Engine 115 

Compound  Locomotive     128-  -130 

Compound  Steam    Turbine 109 

Concentrator,    Magnetic 392 

Continuous   Web    Press 157 

Cooper,    Peter,    Rolls    Iron    Beams 

for  Buildings 354 

Cord  Binding  Reaper 203 

Corliss  Valve  Gear... 106 

Cort  Makes  Wrought  Iron 373 

Cotton,    Diamond 434 

Cotton  Gin 423 

Cracker  and  Cake  Machine 234 

Crompton  Invents  Mule  Spinner. .  422 

Cryptoscope,     Salvioni's 322 

Cuisine,  Ocean  Steamer 145 

Culture,    Bacteria 255 

Cut-Off,  Sickel's 105 

Cut-Off,   Steam 104 

Cyanide   Process 391 


Daguerreotype   303 

Daguerre's    Invention 303 

Dahlgren   Gun 39? 

Dal  Negro  Electric  Motor 49 

Daniell   Battery 16 

Darby  Makes  Iron  with  Coke 373 

De  Laval's  Steam  Turbine in 

De  Lesseps  Builds  Suez  Canal 347 

Demologos,  First  War  Vessel 146 

Densmore  Typewriter 180 

Dentistry   .  . " 250 

Desk    Telephone 86 

Deutschland's    Engines 115 

Digesters,  Wood   Pulp 163 

Digestion     252 

Disease    Germs 253 

Double  Hull  Steamer 140 

Dough    Mixer 232 

Draisine   Bicycle 260 

Drawing  Rolls,  Spinning 421 

Dredges   349 

Drill    Jar 35o 

Drills,   Rock 35* 

Drinks    244 

Drummond    Light 338 

Dry  Plate  Photography 306 

Dudley's   Early   Ironworking 373 

Duplex    Telegraph 23 

Duplicating  Phonograph  Records..  279 

Dust  Collector,  Flour  Mills 232 

Dyes,  Coal  Tar 223 

Dynamite    Gun 4°5 

Dynamo    Armature 43 

Dynamo,    Bipolar 42 


INDEX. 


Dynamo,    Description    of .  -  42 

Dynamos,  Different  Kinds 42 

Dynamo    Electric   Machine 38 — 47 

Dynamo,  Gramme  and  D'lvernois.  4; 

Dynamo,  Hjorth     40 

Dynamo,  Multipolar    47 

Dynamo,  Siemens'    41 

Dynamo,  Wilde     41 


Eads,  Caissons  of 

Earthquake-Proof    Palace 

Edison's  Electric   Lamp 

Edison's  Carbon  Microphone 

Edison's  Concentrating    Works.  . 

Edison's  Electric    Pen 

Edison's  Kinetoscope    

Edison's  Three  Wire  System.... 

Edison's  X-Ray  Apparatus 

Eiffel    Tower 

Electric  Automobile     

Electric  Body    Appliances 

Electric  Cautery    

Electric  Furnace  

Electric  Furnace,  Acheson    

Electric  Furnace,  Bradley   

Electric  Lamp,  Edison's     

Electric  Lamp,  Sawyer-Man    .  . . 

Electric  Lamp,  Starr-King    

Electric  Launch    

Electric  Light    

Electric  Light  Beacon     

Electric  Light  Circuit   

Electric  Locomotive     

Electric  Motor    

Electric  Motor,  Barlow's  Wheel. 

Electric  Motor,  Dal  Negro 

Electric  Motor,  Davenport    

Electric  Motor,  Dr.    Page 

Electric  Motor,  Faraday    

Electric  Motor,  Henry   

Electric  Motor,  Jacobi    

Electric  Motor,  Neff  

Electric  Motor,  Prof.  Henry's. . . 

Electric  Motor,  Railway    

Electric  Motor,  Westinghouse   .  . 
Electric  Musical  Instruments.... 

Electric  Pen,    Edison's 

Electric  Piano    

Electric  Railway,  First     

Electric  Railway    Statistics     .... 

Electric  Telephone   

Electric  Welding    

Electrical  Generation,    Polyphase 

Electrical  Navigation    

Electricity  Direct  from  Fuel 

Electricity  in  Medicine 

Electricity,    Miscellaneous 

Electro-Blasting    

Electro-Chemistry     . 

Electrocution    


•  •  345 
.-  355 
67—73 
,  .  82 

•  392 
.       96 

, .  297 
72—74 

•  323 
.-     355 
, .     270 

•  97 
. .       97 
..       44 

45 

..  46 
67—73 
67—73 
,,  66 
93^)4 
63—75 
65-69 

•  74 
59 

48—62 
.  48 
.  49 
51—52 

•  Si 
.      48 

50 


43 

.  92 
.  92 
.  96 
88—99 
.  99 
.  225 
•  44 


Electro-Magnet,  Henry's 17 — 18 

Electro-Magnetism  by  Oersted 18 

Electro-Magnet,    Sturgeon's 18 — 19 

Electro-Plating    93 

Elements,    New 227 

Elevators,    Passenger 459 

Elliott  &  Hatch  Typewriter 182 

Emulsions,    Photography 305 

Engine,  Gas 337 

Engine,   Rotary iog 

Epilogue    465 — 467 

Ericsson's  Monitor    148 

Ericsson's  Screw  Propeller 137 

Etherization    246 

Excavating  Quicksand  by  Freezing    345 
Explosives,    High 419 

Facsimile  Telegraph 24 

False  Teeth 251 

Faraday  Converts   Electricity   Into 

Power    48 

Farmer  Utilizes  Electric  Light 67 

Farms,    Large 207 

Fastest  Railway  Speed 131 

Fastest  Speed,  Steam  Vessel 146 

Faure  Storage  Battery 90 

Feathering  Paddle  Wheel 138 — 141 

Feed,  Sewing  Machine 186 — 187 

Fermenting  and  Brewing 223 

Field,  Cyrus  W 32 

Fields,    Large 207 

Films,   Photographic 308 

Filter,   Centrifugal 243 

Fire  Alarm  Telegraph 24 

Firearms   and   Explosives 394 — 419 

Firearms,    Early 395 

Fire  Engine,  Steam 114 

First  Cable  Message 33 

First  Dynamo    40 

First  Electric  Light  in  Dwelling. . .       67 

First  Gas  Company 330 

First  Incandescent  Lamp 66 — 72 

First  Locomotive    1 19 

First  Ocean    Voyage 137 — 145 

First  Phonograph     274 

First  Photographic   Portrait 310 

First  Railway  in  U.  S 131 

First  Rubber  Shoes 212 

First  Telegraphic  Message    15 

First  Telegraphic  Signal    18 

First  War  Vessel 146 

Flood  Rock,  Destruction  of 352 

Flour    Mills 230 

Fluorometer    (X-Ray) 326 

Fluoroscope,    Edison's 323 

Focus   Tube,  X-Ray 326 

Food  and  Drink 228 — 244 

Food  Products,    Statistics 229 

Foods,   Patented 244 

Forging  Press 383 


472 


INDEX. 


Forth  Bridge 340 

Fourdrinier    Machine 161 

Franklin's  Printing  Press 155 

Fulton,    Robert 134 

Fulton's    Demologos 146 

Galvani's  Experiment 16 

Galvanizing  387 

Gas,  Acetylene  .  333 

Gas  Checks,  Ordnance 398 

Gas,  Coal  330 

Gas  Engine  337 

Gases,  Liquefaction  of 447 

Gas  Lighting  329 — 339 

Gas  Meter  337 

Gasoline  Automobile 268 

Gas,  Water 332 

Catling  Gun 405 

Gauge,  Steam 107 

Gelatine  Films,  Photography 308 

Germs,  Disease 253 

Gessner's  Cloth  Press 432 

Giffard  Injector 105 

Glucose  223 

Gold,  Cyanide  Process 391 

Goodyear  Discovers  Vulcanization.  214 
Goodyear  Introduces  Rubber  Into 

Europe  214 

Goodyear's  Experiments  With 

Rubber  212 

Gramophone  280 

Grande  Lunette  Telescope 287 

Grape  Sugar 223 

Graphophone  277 

Great  Eastern 138 

Greathead  Improves  Tunneling 

Shield  347 

Grove,  Prof.,  Electric  Lamp 66 — 72 

Gun  Cotton,  Making 224 

Gun,  Magazine  411 

Gun,  Disappearing  401 

Gunpowder  416 

Gun,  i6-inch 401 

Gunpowder,  White 417 

Guns,  Hammerless 414 

Gutenberg's  Movable  Type 154 

Hackworth's  Locomotive 121 

Half  Tone    Engraving 314 

Hammer,  Steam. 112 

Hammond   Typewriter 178 

Hargreaves   Invents  the   Spinning- 
Jenny    421 

Harvester    195 

Harvest  Scene  208 

Harvey    Process 387 

Hayward  Adds  Sulphur  to  Rubber  213 

Heddle     426 

Hedley's  "Puffing  Billy" 120 

Heliography,   Niepce 302 


Henry's  Electric  Motor 50 

Henry's  First  Telegraph 18 

Hero's    Engine 101 

Hjorth   Dynamo 40 

Hoe   Printing   Press 157 

Holden  Ice  Machine 443 

Holland   Submarine  Boat 152 

Homoaopathy   250 

Horrocks  Applies  Steam  to  Looms  428 

Horseshoes,  Manufacture  of 383 

Hot  Blast  Furnace 374 

House  Printing  Telegraph 24 

House  Sanitation 256 

Howe's  Sewing  Machine 184 

Hussey's    Reaper 196 

Hydraulic    Dredges 349 

Hydropathy    250 

Ice  Machine,  Holden 443 

Ice  Machines    436 — 446 

Ice  Plant    442 

Ice  Skating  Rinks 445 

Incandescent   Lamp ' 66 

India   Rubber   Statistics 217 

Injector,  Giffard 105 

Instantaneous    Photos 308 

Iron  and  Steel  Statistics 390 

Ironclad  Monitors  Cross  Ocean...  148 

Ironclads   147 

Jablochkoff    Candle 64 

Jacobi's  Electric  Boat     92 

Jacobi's  Electric  Motor    51 

Jacquard  Loom 427 

Janney  Car  Coupling 129 

Jenkins'    Phantascope 299 

Jetties,   Mississippi 352 

John  Bull,  Locomotive 124 

Kaiser    Wilhelm,    Steamer 142 

Kaleidoscope    294 

Kelly's  Process  Making  Steel 377 

Kinetoscope    297 

Kirchhoff's   Spectroscope 293 

Kneading     Machines 233 

Knitting  Machines 430 

Kodak    Camera 307 — 309 

Konig's  Rotary  Press 157 

Krag-Jorgensen   Magazine   Rifle...  413 

Krupp    Gun 398 

Laryngoscope     249 

Latch  Needle  for  Knitting  Machine  432 

Lathe,    Blanchard's 368 

Laughing   Gas 246 

Launches,   Electric 94 

Leading      Inventions,      Nineteenth 

Century    7 — 14 

Lee  Invents  Knitting  Machines....  431 

Lee's   Magazine   Rifle 412 


INDEX. 


473 


Lick    Telescope 286 

Light,  Electric  fa 

Light,  Rapidity  of  Travel ......'.'.'.  299 

Lime    Light ^ 

Link    Motion I28 

Linotype    Printing !65 

Liquid    Air. .......     447-457 

Lister  s   Antiseptic    Surgery 256 

Lithography    IJQ 

Lithotrity    250 

Locke  Wire  Binder 203 

Locks,  Pneumatic  Lift 300 

Locomobile,    Steam 267 

Locomotive,  Electric   59 

Locomotive,  Largest    132 

Locomotive,  Steam    118 

Loom,  Jacquard    427 

Loom,  Positive    Motion 429 

Loom,  Power    426 

Lovers'    Telegraph. 76 

Lowe's  Water  Gas  Apparatus 332 

Lyall  Positive  Motion  Loom 429 

Machine  Gun 405 

Magazine  Pistol 409 

Magnetic  Concentrator 392 

Magneto-Electric  Machine 38 — 39 

Malarial  Parasite 254 

Mann  Harvester 200 

Mantles  for  Welsbach  Burner 338 

Marconi's  Wireless  Telegraphy. ...  27 

Marsh  Harvester 201 

Matches,  Friction 460 

Matching  Machines 366 

Materia  Medica 247 

Mauser  Rifle 413 

McCormick  Reaper 197 — 199 

McKay  Shoe  Sewing  Machine 190 

Meats,  Dressing 238 

Medical  Electricity 96 

Medicines,  Coal  Tar 223 

Medicine,  Surgery,  Sanitation.  .245 — 258 

Mege's  Oleomargarine. . . . 239 

Melville  Introduces  Gas  in  U.  S. . .  330 

Mercerized  Cloth 434 

Mergenthaler  Linotype  Machine...  166 

Meta!  Founding 388 

Metallurgy,  Early  History  of 372 

Metal  Production  in  the  United 

States  393 

Metal  Tube  Making 387 

Metal  Turning  387 

Metal  Working  371—393 

Meter,  Gas. 337 

Michaux's  Bicycle 261 

Micro-photographs  in  Beleaguered 

Paris  291 

Microscope 290 

Middlings  Purifier 231 

Milk  Skimmer 235 


Milling,  Flour 23O 

Mills'    Typewriter ! ! .  i7l 

Mines,    Submarine 417 

Minor  Inventions .'  '.458—464 

Molding  Machines 366 

Monitor  Monadnock 140 

Mont  Cenis  Tunnel i  345 

Monument,    Washington 356 

Morrow  Bicycle  Brake !  264 

Morse  Telegraph .'  Ig 

Mortising    Machines ! . !  369 

Morton  and  Jackson  Patent  Anaes- 
thesia      247 

Moving  Pictures 295 

Mule    Spinner 422 

Musical  Instruments,  Electric.!!!!  98 

Muybridge's  Photos  Trotting  Horses  297 

Nails,    Wire 388 

Nasmyth's  Steam  Hammer ....  112 

Natural  Gas 329—339 

Navies'    Tonnage ? .  146 

Navigation,  Electric    92 

Navigation,  Steam I33 

Needle    Gun ^n 

Newcomen's    Engine !!!.!  102 

Nicholson's  Rotary  Press 156 

Niepce's    Heliography 302 

Nitro-Glycerine  224 

Nitrous  Oxide  Gas 246 

Northrop    Loom 429 

Oceanic,  Largest  Steamer 139 — 143 

Octuple   Printing  Press 158 

Old  Ironsides,  Locomotive 125 

Oleomargarine    239 

Oliver   Typewriter 181 

Open  Hearth  Steel 380 

Opthalmometer    249 

Opthalmoscope    249 

Optics     284 300 

Ordnance,   Breech-Loading 397 

Oregon,  Battleship,    150 

Ore  Separator,  Magnetic 392 

Ostergren  and  Berger  Liquid  Air. .  450 

Otto  Gas  Engine 338 

Pacific  Railway 131 

Paddle  Wheel,   Feathering 138 

Panorama  Camera. 311 

Paper  Making  159 — 165 

Paper  Making,  Speed  in 165 

Paper  Making    Statistics 165 

Paper  Pulp  Beater ..:.......  160 

Parsons  Steam  Turbine. 109 

Patented    Foods 244 

Patents    462 

Perfumes,  Coal  Tar 223 

Perkins  Invents  Ice  Machines.....  438 

Persistence  of  Vision 295 


474 


INDEX. 


Phantascppe   299 

Phenacetin    248 

Phenakistoscope    295 

Phoenix,   Steamboat 136 

Phonautograph    276 

Phonograph    273—283 

Phosphor  Bronze 389 

Photo-engraving   312 

Photographic  Experiments,   First. .  302 

Photographic  Positives 303 

Photographic  Roll  Film 308 

Photographs  by  Artificial  Light. 308— 316 

Photography    301 — 318 

Photography,    Celestial 31° 

Photography,    Half   Tone    Engrav- 
ing      314 

Photography  in  Colors 311 

Photo- lithography    312 

Photo-micrographs     253 

Piano,    Electric 98 

Pictet   Ice  Machine 439 

Pictet's    Researches 455 

Pieper    Automobile 271 

Pig    Iron 375 

Pigs,  Casting 379 

Pins,  The  Manufacture  of 389 

Pintsch  Gas 336 

Pistols    407 

Pixii  Electric  Machine 39 

Planing    Machines 366 

Plante   Storage  Battery 88—89 

Plate  Printing 169 

Platinotypes    305 

Pneumatic    Caissons 345 

Pneumatic    Tires 263 

Poetsch  Method  of  Tunneling 345 

Polarization  of  Light 294 

Polyphase  Generation •  43 

Ponton,  Mungo,  Photography 305 

Precious  Metals,  Statistics 393 

Premo   Camera 309 

Preparing    Rubber 215 

Preserving    Food 235 

Printing    154— 170 

Printing   Telegraph 23—24 

Priscilla,    Steamer 142 

Progin's   Typewriter 172 

Progress   Photographic  Art 300 

Puddling    Furnace 373 

Pulp,  Wood 161 

Pulse  Recorder 249 

Purifier,    Middlings 231 

Quadruplex  Telegraph 23 

Quarter   Sawing 363 

Queen  Victoria,  First  Cablegram. .  33 

Quinine    Discovered 247 

Rabbeth  Spinning  Spindle 425 

Railway  Motor,  Electric 58 


Railway    Statistics   131 

Railway,  Steam  118 

Range    Finder 295 

Rapid  Fire  Gun 400 

Rare  Metals,  Metallurgy 390 

Reaper   195 — 209 

Reaper    Statistics 205—206 

Rebounding    Lock 415 

Recorder,  Siphon 35 

Reece  Buttonhole  Machine 191 

Regenerative  Furnace 381 

Register,    Morse 21 — 22 

Reis'    Telephone 78 

Remington    Typewriter 176 

Return  Circuit,  Earth 18 

Review  of  Century 3 — 6 

Revolvers    408 

Revolving  Turret 147 

Rifling  of  Firearms 396 

Ring  Frame,  Spinning 425 

Rock    Drills 351 

Rocket,    Locomotive 122 

Rodman's  Method  of  Casting  Guns    397 

Roentgen  Rays 319 — 328 

Rogues'    Gallery 310 

Roller  Mill,  Flour 230 

Roll   Film,    Photography 308 

Rotary  Engine 109 

Rotary  Hook  Sewing  Machine 187 

Rotary  Press    156 

Rover   Bicycle 263 

Rubber    Cloth    216 

Rubber,  India    210 — 220 

Rubber    Shoes  217 — 218 

Safes,     Fireproof 461 

Safety  Bicycle 264 

Safety-Lamp    359 

Saint's   Sewing  Machine 184 

Salol  248 

Salvioni's  X-Ray  Tube 322 

Sanitation   245 

Sanitation,    House 256 

Savannah,    Steamer 137 — 145 

Saw    360 

Saw,    Circular 361 

Sawmill  Carriage 362 

Sawyer-Man  Electric  Lamp 67 — 73 

Saxton  Electric  Machine 39 

Schlick  System 116 

Schools  of  Medicine 250 

Screw  Propeller 135—137 

Screws,   Bolts,   etc 383 

Screws,    Gimlet    Pointed 385 

Screws,    Rolling 386 

Screw  Steamer,  Stevens' 134 

Search  Light 70—71 

Seidlitz    Powders 247 

Self-Binding  Reaper 203 

Self-Raking    Reaper 202 


INDEX. 


475 


Sewerage,    Sanitary 256 

Sewing  Machine  183 — 194 

Sewing  Machine    Statistics 188 — 193 

Sheathing  Railway  Train 132 

Shield,    Tunneling 346 — 347 

Shoe  Sewing  Machine 190 

Sholes'    Typewriter 176 

Shot  Making 389 

Shuttle,   Flying 426 

Sickel's     Cut-off 105 

Siemens'   Electric  Railway 54 

Siemens-Martin  Steel 381 

Siemens'   Regenerative  Furnace...  381 

Silk,  Artificial 433 

Silver     Printing 305 

Singer   Sewing   Machine 187 

Siphon    Recorder 35 

Skating  Rinks,  Ice 445 

Skeleton    Construction 353 

Skimmer,   Milk.... 235 

Sleeping   Car 131 

Small  Arms 407 

Smith-Premier  Typewriter 178 

Snap-Shot    Camera 309 

Solarometer   295 

Spectroscope    292 

Spectrum    292 

Spectrum    Analysis 293 

Speed  Across   Atlantic 145 

Speed,  Railway  131 

Sphygmograph    249 

Sphygmometrograph    249 

Spindle,    Spinning 425 

Spinning-Jenny   420 

Spinning  Spindle 425 

Statistics,   Steam  Navigation 152 

Steam     Automobile 266 

Steamboat     133 

Steamboat,    Fulton's 136 

Steam  Cut-off 104 

Steam  Engine 100 — 117 

Steam  Engine,  Hero's 101 

Steam  Engine,  Newcomen 102 

Steam  Engine,  Watt's 103 

Steamer,  Swinging  Cabin 140 

Steam  Feed  Saw  Carriage 363 

Steam  Fire    Engine 113 

Steam  Gauge   107 

Steam  Hammer 112 

Steam  Harvester  and  Thresher. . . .  206 

Steam  Locomotive   1 18 

Steam  Navigation 133—^53 

Steam  Navigation    Statistics 152 

S"team  Planting  206 

Steam  Power    Statistics 116 

Steam  Railway    118—132 

Steam  Turbine    109 

Steel    Alloys 389 

Steel.    Open    Hearth 380 

Stephenson's  Link    Motion 128 


Stephenson's  Locomotives 121 

Stereo-Binocular  Field  Glass 

Stereoscope    

Stereoscopic    Camera 

Stereotyping     

Sterilizing  Food   Stuffs 

Stethoscope    

Stevens'    "Phoenix" 

Stevens'   Screw  Steamer 134 

St.   Gothard  Tunnel 

Stockton  &  Darlington  Railway... 

Storage  Battery    

Storage  Battery,  Faure    

Storage  Battery,  Plante 

Storage  Battery,  Ritter    

Stourbridge  Lion,  Locomotive 

Submarine  Boat 

Suez    Canal 

Sugar    Making 

Sulfonal    

Surgery   

Surgical    Instruments 

Symington's   Steamboat 

Synthesis  Organic  Compounds 

System,  Third  Rail 


-123 
289 
294 
310 
159 
236 
249 
136 
-135 
346 

121 

88 
90 
88 
88 
123 
152 
347 
241 
248 
245 
249 
134 

222 

57 


Talbot's  Photographic  Prints 303 

Talbotype 303 

Taupenot's  Dry  Plates 306 

Telegraph,  Edison's    Quadruplex..       23 

Telegraph,  Electric    15 — 31 

Telegraphic     Conductor 17 

Telegraphing  by  Induction 25 

Telegraph    Statistics 30 

Telegraph,    Wireless 26 

Telephone 76 — 87 

Telephone,  Bell  77 

Telephone,  Blake  Transmitter 83 

Telephone,  Bourseul    77 

Telephone,  Drawbaugh    77 

Telephone   Exchange    86 — 87 

Telephone,  Gray    77 

Telephone,  Reis    78 

Telephone    Statistics   86 

Telephone,  Undulatory    Current...       79 
Telephone,  Variable  Resistance....       82 

Telescope    285 

Telescopic    Discoveries 284 

Textiles    420 — 435 

Thaumatrope    295 

Thimonnier's   Sewing   Machine 184 

Third-Rail  System 57 

Thompsonian  System  Medicine....     250 

Thompson,    Sir    William 35 

Thorp  Invents  Ring  Spinning 425 

Three  Wire  System 72 — 74 

Thurber's  Typewriter 173 

Ticker,  Stock  Broker's 23 — 24 

Timby's  Revolving  Turret 147 

Time  Locks 461 


476 


INDEX. 


Tolls,    Suez   Canal 347 

Tonnage   World's   Navies 146 

Tools,  Machine 386 

Traction  Engine 206 

Transformer     43 

Trevithick's  Locomotive    118 

Trevithick's  Steam  Carriage 266 

Tripler,  Liquid  Air 45O 

Trolley,  Overhead    55 

Trolley,  Underground     56 

Trouve  Electric  Boat 92 

Tube  Manufacture 387 

Tunneling   Shield 346 

Tunnels    345 

Turbine,     Steam 109 

Turbinia,    Steamer m 

Turret     Monitor 148 

Typewriter    171—182 

Typewriter,  Oldest     171 

Typewriter    for    Blind 174 

Typewriter    Statistics    182 

Utilizing  Heat  from  Blast  Furnace  375 


Vaccination    245 

Vacuum  Pan,   Sugar 242 

Vacuum  Tubes    321 

Valve  Gear,  Corliss 106 

Velocipede    261 

Vertical  Fork  Bicycle 262 

Viper,   Torpedo   Boat in 

Vitascope    297 

Voltaic    Arc 63 

Voltaic   Pile 16 

Vulcanized    Rubber 210 

Wall   Telephone 85 

Washington  Monument. 356 

Washington  Press 156 

Watch,   Stem- Winding 460 

Water  Closets. 256      Zoetrbpe 


Water  Gas 331 

Watt's  Steam  Engine 103 

Wax  Cylinder,  Phonograph 277 

,  Weaving    425 

Wegmann's  Roller  Mill 230 

Welding,    Electric 91 

Wells,  Artesian  350 

Wells,  Petroleum   350 

Wells,  Dr.,  Produces  Anaesthesia..  246 

Welsbach  Gas  Burner 338 

Westinghouse  Air   Brake 129 

Westinghouse  Electric  Motor 53 

Wheat    Produced 209 

Whitney  Invents  Cotton  Gin 423 

Willis  Invents  Platinotypes 305 

Wilson's  Sewing  Machine 186 

Windhausen  Cold  Storage  Device.  445 

Winsor  Introduces  Gas  in  London  330 

Winton    Automobile 269 

Wire  Bending 388 

Wire  Fences 388 

Wireless  Telegraphy 26 

Wood    Pulp ;..  161 

Woodruff  Sleeping  Car 131 

Wood  Turning 368 

Woodworker,    Universal 367 

Woodworking   360 — 370 

Wood  worth  Wood  Planer 367 

World's  Blast  Furnaces 375 

X-Rays    319 

X-Ray  Apparatus  324 

X-Ray  Focus  Tube 326 

X-Ray  Photograph    322 

X-Ray  Surgery   325 

Yerkes  Telescope 287 

Yost    Typewriter 180 


297 


ADVICE  IN  REGARD  TO  PATENTS. 


HE  influence  of  invention  on  modern  life  can  be  very  justly 
estimated  by  a  perusal  of  "The  Progress  of  Invention  in 
the  Nineteenth  Century."  It  is,  of  course,  well  known 
that  inventors  are  necessarily  assisted  in  the  prosecution  of 
their  applications  for  patents  in  the  Patent  Office  by  patent  attorneys. 
It  gives  Messrs,  Munn  &  Co.  pleasure  to  announce  that  they  have 
prosecuted,  during  a  period  of  over  fifty  years,  some  of  the  most  impor- 
tant patent  cases  which  have  ever  been  sent  to  the  Patent  Office.  During 
this  long  period  they  have  filed  and  prosecuted  over  one  hundred 
thousand  applications  for  patents.  Their  reputation  is  such  that 
inventors  have  found  that  they  may  submit  their  ideas  with  entire 
confidence  that  thetr  trust  will  not  be  betrayed,  and  that  their  interests 
will  be  protected  to  the  fullest  extent.  They  secure  patents,  trade-marks, 
caveats  and  copyrights.  A  little  book  entitled  "  Hand-Book  on  Patent 
Practice  n  will  be  sent  free  to  any  address,  and  any  questions  relating  to 
patents  will  be  cheerfully  answered  by  return  mail  without  charge. 
Thousands  of  clients  all  over  the  United  States,  many  of  them  the 
most  successful  inventors  which  this  country  has  produced,  have  had  the 
professional  services  of  Messrs.  Munn  &  Co.  in  the  preparation  and 
prosecution  of  their  patent  applications  before  the  United  States  and 
foreign  patent  offices.  The  integrity  of  this  firm,  and  their  attention  to 
this  branch  of  their  business,  has  resulted  in  the  largest  practice  of  any  firm 
of  patent  attorneys  in  the  United  States.  Inventors  are  invited  to  write 
freely  regarding  their  inventions,  and  their  sketches  will  be  carefully  and 
promptly  examined.  All  communications  of  this  kind  are  treated  as 
strictly  confidential.  The  readers  of  u  The  Progress  of  Invention  in  the 
Nineteenth  Century  "  may  also  be  interested  to  know  that  Munn  &  Co. 
have  offices  in  both  New  York  and  Washington,  and  thus  are  able  to 
keep  in  close  touch  with  the  work  of  the  Patent  Office.  They  have 
unsurpassed  facilities  for  examining  and  reporting  on  the  probable 
patent-ability  of  inventions,  and  they  render  opinions  on  questions  of 
infringement  and  validity  of  patents;  and  they  also  have  been  most 
successful  in  the  prosecution  of  interferences. 

Further  particulars  may  be  obtained  by  addressing 

MUNN    &    CO., 

Branch  Office  :  SCIENTIFIC  AMERICAN  OFFICE, 

625  F  Street,  361  Broadway, 

Washington,  D.  C.  New  York  City. 


SCIENTIFIC  AMERICAN 

THE  MOST  POPULAR  SCIENTIFIC  PAPER 
IN  THE  WORLD 

Established  J845.    .    .    .       Weekly,  $3.00  a  Year;  $1,50  Six  Months 


This  unrivalled  periodical  is  now  in  its  FIFTY-SIXTH  YEAR,  and,  owing  to  its 
ever  increasing  popularity,  it  enjoys  the  largest  circulation  ever  attained  by  any 
scientific  publication.  Every  number  contains  sixteen  large  pages,  beautifully 
printed,  handsomely  illustrated ;  it  presents  in  popular  style  a  descriptive  record  of 
the  most  novel,  interesting  and  important  developments  in  Science,  Arts  and  Manu- 
factures. It  abounds  in  fresh  and  interesting  subjects  for  discussion,  thought  or 
study.  It  provides  material  for  experiment  at  home  and  in  the  laboratory,  and  it 
enables  the  intelligent  reader  to  keep  informed  as  to  the  industrial  and  scientific  de- 
velopment of  the  country.  To  the  inventor  it  is  invaluable,  as  every  number  con- 
tains a  complete  list  of  all  patents  and  trade  marks  issued  weekly  from  the  Patent 
Office.  It  promotes  industry,  progress,  thrift  and  intelligence  in  every  community 
where  it  circulates. 

THE  SCIENTIFIC  AMERICAN  should  have  a  place  in  every  dwelling,  shop,  office, 
school  or  library.  Workmen,  foremen,  engineers,  superintendents,  directors,  presi- 
dents, officials,  merchants,  farmers,  teachers,  lawyers,  physicians,  clergymen — people 
in  every  walk  and  profession  in  life,  will  derive  satisfaction  and  benefit  from  a  reg- 
ular reading  of  THE  SCIENTIFIC  AMERICAN. 

As  an  instructor  for  the  young  it  is  of  peculiar  advantage.  TRY  IT. — Subscribe 
for  yourself — it  will  bring  you  valuable  ideas;  subscribe  for  your  sons — it  will 
make  them  manly  and  self-reliant;  subscribe  for  your  workmen — it  will  please  and 
assist  their  labor;  subscribe  for  your  friends — it  will  be  likely  to  give  them  a  practical 
lift  in  life.  Terms,  $3.00  a  year;  $1.50  six  months.  Specimen  copies  free.  Remit  by 
postal  order  or  check/ 

Scientific  American  Supplement 

Established  J876 


This  journal  is  a  separate  publication  from  THE  SCIENTIFIC  AMERICAN,  and  is  de- 
signed to  extend  and  amplify  the  work  carried  on  by  the  parent  paper.  In  size  and 
general  make-up  it  is  uniform  therewith,  covering  sixteen  pages  of  closely-printed 
matter,  handsomely  illustrated.  It  has  no  advertising  pages,  and  the  entire  space  is 
given  up  to  the  scientific,  mechanical  and  engineering  news  of  the  day.  It  differs 
from  THE  SCIENTIFIC  AMERICAN  in  that  it  contains  many  articles  that  are  too  long  to 
be  published  in  the  older  journal  or  of  a  more  technical  nature.  College  professors 
and  students  find  this  edition  especially  adapted  to  their  wants.  It  contains  reports 
of  the  meetings  of  the  scientific  societies,  both  in  this  country  and  abroad,  and  ab- 
stracts of  many  papers  read  before  such  societies.  It  has  a  page  of  short  notes  con- 
cerning the  electrical,  engineering,  and  general  scientific  news  of  the  day,  together 
with  a  column  of  selected  formulae.  Each  number  contains  much  foreign  scientific 
news,  and,  when  taken  in  connection  with  THE  SCIENTIFIC  AMERICAN,  it  places  before 
the  reader  a  weekly  review  of  the  latest  and  most  important  discoveries  and  the  most 
advanced  technical  and  scientific  work  of  the  times  all  over  the  world. 

PRICE  FOR  THE  SUPPLEMENT,  $5  A  YEAR,  or  one  copy  of  THE  SCIEN- 
TIFIC AMERICAN  and  one  copy  of  SUPPLEMENT,  both  mailed  to  one  address,  for  one 
year,  for  $7.  Address  and  remit  by  postal  order  or  check. 

MUNN  &  CO.,  Publishers,      j* 


THE  SCIENTIFIC  AMERICAN, 

ARCHITECTS'  and  BUILDERS'  EDITION. 

$2.50  a  Year  Single  copies,  25  cts. 

This  is  a  special  edition  of  the  SCIENTIFIC  AMERICAN,  issued  monthly  —  on  the  first 
day  of  the  month.  Each  number  contains  about  forty  large  quarto  pages,  equal  to 
about  200  ordinary  book  pages,  forming,  practically,  a  large  and  splendid  MAGA- 
ZINE OF  ARCHITECTURE,  richly  adorned  with  elegant  plates  in  colors  and  with  fine 
engravings,  illustrating  the  most  interesting  examples  of  modern  architectural  con- 
struction and  allied  subjects.  A  special  feature  is  the  presentation  in  each  num- 
ber of  a  variety  of  the  latest  and  best  plans  for  private  residences,  city  and  country, 
including  those  of  very  moderate  cost,  as  well  as  the  more  expensive.  Drawings  in 
perspective  and  in  color  are  given,  together  with  plans,  specifications,  costs,  etc. 
No  other  building  paper  contains  so  many  plans  and  specifications,  regularly  pre- 
sented, as  the  SCIENTIFIC  AMERICAN.  Thousands  of  dwellings  have  already  been 
erected  on  the  various  plans  we  have  issued,  and  many  others  are  in  process  of 
construction. 

Architects,  builders  and  house  owners  will  find  this  work  valuable  in  furnishing 
fresh  and  useful-  suggestions.  All  who  contemplate  building  or  improving  homes,  or 
erecting  structures  of  any  kind,  have  before  them  in  this  work  an  almost  endless 
series  of  the  latest  and  best  examples  from  which  to  make  selections,  thus  saving 
time  and  money. 

Many  other  subjects,  including  sewerage,  piping,  lighting,  warming,  ventilating, 
decorating,  laying  out  of  grounds,  etc.,  are  illustrated.  An  extensive  Compendium 
of  manufacturers'  announcements  is  also  given,  in  which  the  most  reliable  and  ap- 
proved building  materials,  goods,  machines,  tools  and  appliances  are  described  and 
illustrated,  with  addresses  of  the  makers,  etc. 

The  fulness,  richness,  cheapness  and  convenience  of  this  work  have  won  for  it 
the  largest  circulation  of  any  "architectural  publication  in  the  world. 

FIFTIETH  ANNIVERSARY  NUMBER 

OF  THE 

SCIENTIFIC  AMERICAN. 

In  commemoration  of  the  fiftieth  year  ot  the  publication  of  the  weekly  edition 
of  the  SCIENTIFIC  AMERICAN,  its  publishers  on  July  25th,  1896,  issued  a  mem- 
orial edition  which  forms  a  valuable  resume  of  the  progress  of  sciencejand  inven- 
tion during  the  past  fifty  years.  Among  the  subjects  treated  are: 

THE  EFFECT  OF  INVENTION  ON  THE  PEOPLE'S  LIFE.  THE  PATENT  SYSTEM.  THE  TRANSATLAN- 
TIC STEAMSHIP.  RAILROADS  AND  BRIDGES.  THE  TELEGRAPH.  PHYSICS.  MEN  OF  PROGRESS- 
THE  TEXTILE  INDUSTRIES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  SINCE  1846.  THE  SUBMARINE  CABLE. 
FIFTY  YEARS  OF  PHOTOGRAPHY.  CHEMISTRY.  THE  PHONOGRAPH.  THE  PROGRESS  MADE 
IX  THE  GENERATION  OF  ELECTRIC  ENERGY  AND  ITS  APPLICATION  TO  THE  OPERATION  OF 
MOTORS  DURING  THE  PAST  FIFTY  YEARS.  THE  AMERICAN  LOCOMOTIVE.  THE  BICYCLE. 
THE  SEWING  MACHINE.  AGRICULTURAL  MACHINERY.  NAVAL  AND  COAST  DEFENSE.  FIFTY 
YEARS  IN  THE  PRINTING  BUSINESS.  THE  PRIZE  ESSAY  OF  THE  SEMI-CENTENNIAL  ANNIVER- 
SARY NUMBER  —  "THE  PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION  DURING  THE  LAST  FIFTY  YEARS."  STEEL. 
DISTINGUISHED  INVENTORS.  AMERICAN  SHIPBUILDING.  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  ASTRONOM- 
ICAL TELESCOPE  IN  FIFTY  YEARS.  THE  TELEPHONE.  FIFTY  YEARS  OF  THE  "  SCIENTIFIC 

AMERICAN." 

The  number  is  fully  illustrated  and  contains  fifty  pages.  In  it  is  printed  "The 
Progress  of  Invention  During  the  Last  Fifty  Years,"  for  which  a  prize  of  $250  was 
offered.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  this  prize  was  won  by  Edward  W.  Byrn,  the 
author  of  "The  Progress  of  Invention  in  the  Nineteenth  Century."  Never  before 
has  so  much  valuable  information  of  historical  interest  and  importance  been  pub- 
lished in  so  condensed  and  popular  a  form.  It  forms  a  valuable  addition  to  any 
library,  and  copies  of  the  Anniversary  Number  can  be  supplied  at  25  cents  per  copy. 


7WTTMM    XT    rT\       TX,Uf«e.U/,<  w>  SCIENTIFIC  AMERICAN  OFFICE, 

1*1  U  IN  IN     OC    LAJ.t    r'UDllSherS,  &  36J  Broadway  .New  York  City. 


Experimental    Science. 

By  GEORGE  M.  HOPKINS. 

TWENTIETH  EDITION,  REVISED  AND  GREATLY  ENLARGED. 

914  Pages.    820  Illustrations.    Handsomely  Bound  in  Cloth. 

Price  by  mail,  postpaid,  $4.00;    Half  Morocco,  $5.00. 


The  new  matter  comprises  eighty  pages  of  text  in  the  form  of  an 
appendix,  including  among  other  subjects 

A  Complete  Article  on  the  X-Ray. 

Wireless  Telegraphy.  Liquefaction  of  Air. 

Acetylene  Gas  Apparatus.  Artificial  Spectrum. 

And  other  articles  which  bring  the  -work  fully  up  to  date. 

This  is  a  book  full  of  interest  and  value  for  teachers,  students  and  others 
who   desire  to  impart  or  obtain  a  practical   knowledge  of   Physics. 

THE  MOST  POPULAR  SCIENTIFIC  BOOK  OF  THE  DAY. 

What  the  press  says  of  "  EXPERIrtENTAL  SCIENCE." 

"  The  electrical  chapters  of  the  book  are  notably  good,  and 
the  practical  instruction  given  for  building  simple  electrical 
machinery  may  be  safely  carried  out  by  those — not  a  few — 
who  like  to  make  their  own  apparatus." — Electrical  World 

"  The  author  has  avoided  repeating  the  hackneyed  illustra- 
tions which  have  been  passed  from  one  book  to  another  so 
long,  and,  instead,  offers  a  set  of  experiments  which  are 
largely  of  a  novel  character  and  very  striking." — Engineering 
and  Mining  Journal. 

"  It  is  a  treat  to  read  a  book  of  this  kind,  that  sets  forth  the 
principles  of  physics  so  fully,  and  without  the  use  of  mathe- 
matics."— The  Locomotive. 

"All  teachers  of  science  are  aware  that  real  knowledge  is 
acquired  best  by  the  student  making  experiments  for  him- 
self, and  anyone'who  points  out  how  those  experiments  may 
be  easily  made  is  doing  excellent  work." — English  Mechanic 
and  World  of  Science. 

"  The  work  bears  the  stamp  of  a  writer  who  writes  nothing 

but  with  certainty  of  action  and  result,  and  of  a  teacher  who  imparts  scientific  information 
in  an  attractive  and  fascinating  manner." — American  Engineer. 


Mr.  Thomas  A.  Edison  says :  "  The  practical  character  of  the  physical  apparatus,  the 
clearness  of  the  descriptive  matter,  and  its  entire  freedom  from  mathematics,  give  the 
work  a  value,  in  my  mind,  superior  to  any  other  work  on  elementary  physics  of  which  I  am 
aware." 

Send  for  Illustrated  Circular  and  Complete  Table  of  Contents. 
JgipSend  for  our  New  and  Complete  Catalogue  of  Books,  sent  free  to  any  address. 


MUNN  &  CO.,  Publishers. 


SCIENTIFIC  AMERICAN  OFFICE, 
36  J  Broadway,  New  York. 


THE  SCIENTIFIC  AMERICAN 

Cyclopedia  of  Receipts 

NOTES  AND   QUERIES 
J2,500    RECEIPTS,  708   PAGES 

Edited  by  ALBERT  A.  HOPKINS 

*  I  •"HIS  splendid  work  contains  a  careful  compilation  of  the  most  useful 
I         Receipts  and  Replies  given  in  the  Notes  and  Queries   of  corre- 
spondents as  published  in  the  Scientific  (American  during  the  past 
fifty  years;  together  with  many  valuable  and  important  additions. 
OVER  TWELVE  THOUSAND  selected  receipts  are  here  collected; 
nearly  every  branch  of  the  useful  arts  being  represented.    It  is  by  far 
the  most  comprehensive  volume  of  the  kind  ever  placed  before  the  public. 

The  work  may  be  regarded  as  the  product 
of  the  studies  and  practical  experience  of  the 
ablest  chemists  and  workers  in  all  parts  of  the 
world;  the  information  given  being  of  the 
highest  value,  arranged  and  condensed  in  con- 
cise form,  convenient  for  ready  use. 

Almost  every  inquiry  that  can  be  thought 
of,  relating  to  formulae  used  in  the  various 
manufacturing  industries,  will  here  be  found 
answered. 

Instructions  for  working  many  different 
processes  in  the  arts  are  given. 

I2,500  RECEIPTS,  708  PAGES.  ^  <***  ^^  S«bstanCCS   ^  *™ 

materials  used  in  manufacturing  operations  are 

defined  and  described.     No  pains  have  been  spared  to  render  this  collateral 
information  trustworthy. 

Those  who  are  engaged  in  any  branch  of  industry  will  probably  find 
in  this  book  much  that  is  of  practical  value  in  their  respective  callings. 

Those  who  are  in  search  of  independent  business  or  employment, 
relating  to  the  home  manufacture  of  salable  articles,  will  find  in  it  hun- 
dreds of  most  excellent  suggestions. 

It  is  impossible  within  the  limits  of  a  prospectus  to  give  more  than  an 
outline  of  a  few  features  of  so  extensive  a  work.  To  those  interested,  a 
fully  descriptive  circular  will  be  sent  free  upon  application. 

Price,  $5.00  in  Cloth  ;  $6.00  in  Sheep;  $6.50  in  Half  Morocco  ;  Postpaid. 

MUNN  &  CO.,  Publishers,      j* 


A  Complete  Electrical  Library. 

By  Prof.  T.  O'CONOR  SLOANE,  A.M.,  E.M.    Ph.D. 

An  inexpensive  library  of  the  best  books  on  Elec- 
tricity. Put  up  in  a  neat  folding  box .  For  the  student, 
the  amateur,  the  workshop,  the  electrical  engineer, 
schools  and  colleges.  Comprising  five  books,  as  follows  : 

Arithmetic  of  Electricity,  138  pages $1.00 

Electric  Toy  Making,  140  pages i.oo 

How  to  Become  a  Successful  Electrician,  189  pages  i.oo 

Standard  Electrical  Dictionary,  682  pages 3.00 

Electricity  Simplified,  158  pages  r.oo 

Five  volumes,  1,300  pages,  and  over  450  illustrations. 
A  valuable  and  indispensable  addition  to  every  library. 


Our  Great  Special  Offer.— We  will  send  prepaid  the  above  five  volumes  hand, 
somely  bound  in  blue  cloth,  with  silver  lettering,  and  inclosed  in  a  neat  folding 
box,  at  the  Special  Reduced  Price  of  $5.00  for  the  complete  set.  The  regular 
price  of  the  five  volumes  is  $7.00.  A  special  circular  will  be  sent  free  to  any  address 
on  application. 

MAGIC.  Stage  Illusions  and  Scientific  Diversions 

ww**w  INCLUDING  TRICK  PHOTOGRAPHY. 

COMPILED   AND   EDITED   BY 

ALBERT  A.  HOPKINS, 

Editor  of"  Scientific  American  Cyclopedia  of  Receipts,  Notes  and  Queries,"  etc. 


WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION  BY     HENRY  R1DQELY  EVANS. 

Author  of  "Hours  with  the  Ghosts;  or,  XIX.  Century  Witchcraft,"    etc. 

568  Pages.  420  Illustrations.  Price,  $2.50. 
This  work  appeals  to  old  and  young  alike,  and  it  is  one 
of  the  most  attractive  holiday  books  of  the  year.  The  illu- 
sions are  illustrated  by  the  highest  class  of  engravings, 
and  the  exposes  of  the  tricks  are  in  many  cases  furnished 
by  the  prestidigitateurs  themselves.  Conjuring,  large  stage 
illusions,  fire  eating,  sword-swallowing,  ventriloquism, 
metal  magic,  ancient  magic,  automata,  curious  toys,  stage 
effects,  photographic  tricks,  and  the  projection  of  moving 
photographs  are  all  well  described  and  illustrated,  making 
a  handsome  volume.  It  is  tastefully  printed  and  bound. 
Acknowledged  by  the  profession  to  be  the  STANDARD 
WORK  ON  MAGIC.  Send  for  large  illustrated  circular, 
sent  free  to  any  address. 


MUNN  &  CO.,  Publishers.       j* 


SCIENTIFIC  AMERICAN  OFFICE, 
361  Broadway,  New  York. 


MECHANICAL  MOVEMENTS, 

POWERS,  DEVICES  AND  APPLIANCES. 
By  GARDNER  D.    HISCOX,  M.  E. 

Author  of  "Gas,  Gasoline,  and  Oil  Engines." 
Large  8vo.    402  Pages.    1649  Illustrations,  with  Descriptive  Text.    Price,  $3.00. 

A  Dictionary  of  Mechanical  Movements,  Powers,  Devices  and  Appliances,  em- 
bracing an  illustrated  description  of  the  greatest  variety  of  mechanical  movements 
and  devices  in  any  language.  A  new  work  on  illustrated  mechanics,  mechanical 
movements,  devices  and  appliances,  covering  nearly  the  whole  range  of  the  practical 
and  inventive  field,  for  the  use  of  Machinists,  Mechanics,  Inventors,  Engineers, 
Draughtsmen,  Students  and  all  others  interested  in  any  way  in  the  devising  and 
operation  of  mechanical  works  of  any  kind. 

THE  CHAPTERS  TREAT  OF  : 

I.  Mechanical  Powers.  X.  Navigation  and  Roads, 

n.  Transmission  of  Power.  XL  Gearing. 

HI.  Measurement  of  Power.  XH.  Motion    and    Devices     Controlling 

IV.  Steam  Power— Boilers  and  Adjuncts.  Motion. 

V.  Steam  Appliances.  XltL  Horological. 

VI.  Motive    Power  — Gas   and  Gasoline  XIV.  Mining. 

Engines.  XV.      Mill  and  Factory  Appliances. 

VII.  Hydraulic  Power  and  Devices.  XVL     Construction  and  Devices. 
VIH.  Air  Power  Appliances.  XVII.   Draughting  Devices. 
IX.    Electric  Power  and  Construction.  X  VHI.  Miscellaneous  Devices. 

Send  for  descriptive  Circular. 

GAS  ENGINE  CONSTRUCTION, 

A  PRACTICAL  TREATISE  DESCRIBING  IN  EVERY  DETAIL 
THE  ACTUAL  BUILDING   OF  A  GAS  ENGINE. 

By  BEHBY  Y.  B.  PBBSELL,  Jr.,  Plenj.  1. 1.  E16C.  EHO,  IK*  BBTBOB  J.  WHO,  PI.  E. 

Large  8vo.    Handsomely  Illustrated  and  Bound.    300  Pages.    Price,  $2.50. 


This  book  treats  of  the  subject  more  from  the  standpoint  of  practice  than  that  of  theory.  The  prin- 
ciples of  operation  of  Gas  Engines  are  clearly  and  simply  described,  and  then  the  actual  construction 
of  a  half-horse  power  engine  is  taken  up,  step  by  step,  showing  in  detail  the  making  of  a  Gas  Engine. 
First  come  directions  for  making  the  patterns ;  this  is  followed  by  all  the  details  of  the  mechanical 
operations  of  finishing  up  and  fitting  the  castings,  and  is  profusely  illustrated  with  beautiful  engravings 
of  the  actual  work  in  progress,  showing  the  modes  of  chucking,  turning,  boring  and  finishing  the  parts  in 
the  lathe,  and  also  plainly  showing  the  lining  up  and  erection  of  the  engine.  Dimensioned  working 
drawings  give  clearly  the  sizes  and  forms  of  the  various  details.  The  entire  engine,  with  the  exception 
of  the  fly-wheels  is  designed  to  be  made  on  a  simple  eight  inch  lathe,  with  slide  rest.  The  book  closes 
with  a  chapter  on  American  practice  in  Gas  Engine  design,  and  gives  simple  rules  so  that  anyone  can 
figure  out  the  dimensions  of  similar  engines  of  other  powers.  Every  illustration  in  this  book  is  new  and 
original,  having  been  made  expressly  for  this  work. 

SEND  FOR  DESCRIPTIVE  CIRCULAR. 


H  7TT  T-R.TXT     O       rT\        D    Uf    t,  .£  SCIENTIFIC  AMERICAN   OFFICE 

MUNN    &    CO.,    Publishers,  •*  36 1  Broadway.  New  York 


a IHiii 

AA    000791186    o 


RULES. 

This  library  is  open  for  receiving  and  loaning  books 
each  Tuesday  from  2  to  5  o'clock  p.  M.,  -Wednesdays 
from  7  to  9  P.  M.,  and  each  Saturday  from  2  to  5  and  7 
to  9  P.  M. 

Any  resident  or  taxpayer  of  the  town  of  Gilford,  over 
twelve  years  of  age,  may  draw  books  from  the  library 
after  signing  an  agreement  to  obey  the  rules,  and  any 
non-resident  may^draw  books  by  giving  security  satis- 
factory to  the  librarian  and  by  paying  ten  cents  a  week  ' 
or  twenty-five  cents  a  month  for  the  use  of  the  library. 

Only  one  book  at  a  time  can  be  drawn  by  each  reg- 
istered borrower,  and  not  exceeding  three  in  any  one 
family. 

The  book  may  be  kept  three  weeks  and  may  be 
renewed  for  one  week  if  not  called  for  by  any  other 
patron. 

If  a  book  is  kept  out  of  the  library  longer  than  the 
specified  time  a  fine  of  one  cent  for  each  day  beyond 
that  time  must  be  paid  before  another  book  can  be 
drawn. 

Writing  in  books  is  forbidden,  and  all  injuries  to 
books  beyond  reasonable  wear  and  all  losses  shall  be 
promptly  adjusted  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  librarian. 

Any  person  abusing  the  privileges  of  the  library,  or 
violating  these  rules,  shall  be  suspended  from  the  use 
of  the  library  by  the  librarian  until  restored  by  a  vote 
of  the  trustees. 


